


Crazy Noisy Bizarre Club

by electron1877



Category: Doki Doki Literature Club! (Visual Novel), ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 | JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken | JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
Genre: Doki Doki Literature Club! Spoilers, Drama, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable Spoilers, Mystery, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-31
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:16:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 49,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24506053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/electron1877/pseuds/electron1877
Summary: Josuke joins the Literature Club in his school, for some reason. While his friends notice that something is off about him, he also notices something off about the club itself. Can he save the club with the help of Crazy Diamond, or is the damage too great for this diamond to fix?
Comments: 9
Kudos: 41





	1. Welcome to the Literature Club

**Author's Note:**

> I originally posted this on fanfiction.net under the same title. If you were expecting something different, I'm afraid that it's the same story that I'm bringing to you here on this platform.

The year was 1999 in Morioh, Japan. Things have mostly gone back to normal during autumn. However, even though Yoshikage Kira is gone, he has still affected many people in this town. Many families still wait for their loved ones to return, unaware of their unfortunate demise. Despite the serial killer's end, there are still those who wish to harm the residents of Morioh. And now, with Jotaro and Joseph gone back to their lives elsewhere, it is up to Josuke to protect his town.

"Hey! Rohan!" the 'town protector' yelled cheerfully as he ran up to the manga artist.

Rohan sneered as he heard his name being called by the kid that burned down half his house. He still wanted to get revenge on him somehow for that and for cheating in the game they were playing during the fire. He then turned around and said, "Ah, Josuke. What do you want? And where's Okuyasu?"

Josuke ran up next to him to walk with him, slightly out of breath. "Okuyasu wasn't ready yet so I went on without him, and I just thought it would be nice to walk with a friend."

Rohan sighed. He REALLY didn't like Josuke, but he knew how useful he and his Stand, Crazy Diamond, could be. The manga artist can deal with him for just a little walk anyway. Plus they were already nearing his school. But suddenly, Rohan decided to take this opportunity to get something out of Josuke to pay off the damage to his house. While he knew that Josuke didn't directly burn down his house, he still distracted him from calling the fire department earlier. "Tell me, Josuke. I heard that you recently have acquired quite a bit of money. Any plans on how you're going to spend it?"

Josuke chuckled a bit, "Oh yeah! The money I took from my old man before he left? Yeah… I kinda already spent it all. I did get this pretty nice pen with that money!"

Rohan raised an eyebrow as he saw the pen in Josuke's hand. He was surprised to see that this kid bought a pen of such quality. This pen was the kind that the manga artist had used for a while before he began using a long fountain pen. He almost completely forgot about getting revenge on…

"So, what's up with your house? Did you manage to pay to fix it all?" Josuke asked, completely oblivious to Rohan's reaction.

The manga artist suddenly swiveled around and pointed at the high schooler and said, "Don't forget, Josuke Higashikata, that it was you who ultimately burned down my house!"

"W-What?! How come you're accusing me of burning down your house?!" he asked somewhat angrily.

"I would have been able to stop the fire and save half-a-years' worth of my work if you weren't trying to swindle a few bucks out of me!"

Josuke opened his mouth to say something, but shut it after realizing he had nothing else to say. He then stopped and bowed, "I'm sorry, Rohan! I know that I kinda ruined your stuff, but it's in the past, and we can't do anything about it."

"Yes, it is in the past," Rohan said as he spotted a girl walking past them, an idea coming to him. "Heaven's Door!"

Josuke looked up to see Rohan writing something in this girl that he had just turned into a book. She had a large red bow in her short orangey-brown hair and wore a rather small unbuttoned blazer. "H-Hey! Rohan! What the hell are you doing to her?!" he yelled.

Rohan turn over to face Josuke and then suddenly turned him into a book. "Consider this revenge!" He then wrote in his book, ' **Childhood friends with Sayori** ' which was similar to the message that he wrote in the book of the girl.

Both books closed and they both forgot that they had just changed. The three of them stood still for a moment, but then the school bell rang.

"Oh no! We're gonna be late! Let's go, Josuke!" the girl exclaimed, grabbing his hand and running to the school.

"Ah! Right! See ya, Rohan!" Josuke said as he waved back to Rohan.

As the two ran off to the school, the manga artist began to chuckle, "This will be fun."

* * *

It is now lunch time for the school. Josuke met up with his friends, Koichi and Okuyasu, in their second-year homeroom. Okuyasu seemed a bit anxious about something.

"Hey, Josuke," he began. "Why didn't you wait for me so we could go to school together?"

"Hmm? Oh, right. You were taking too long. Plus you showed up late to school so we would have both been late. Besides, I went to school with Sayori."

Koichi and Okuyasu blinked.

"Uh… Josuke, who's Sayori? And how do you even know her?" the former asked.

This time it was Josuke who looked at them funny. "Have I not told you guys about her? We've been friends since we were kids… That's about it really."

Josuke's two friends looked at each other then back at Josuke.

"Well, how come you went to school with her instead of me today?" Okuyasu grumbled, folding his arms.

"I already told you! Anyway, you guys going to join a club?"

"Huh? Why the sudden interest in clubs?" Koichi asked.

"Sayori told me that I should join one, more specifically, hers. Hey! Maybe you guys can join with me!"

"Hmm. Maybe. Which club is it?"

"I believe that she told me it was the Literature Club or something."

The two others grimaced. The thought of literature reminded them too much of their experience of becoming books by Heaven's Door.

"Uh… no. Literature is not really my thing." Okuyasu said.

Koichi quickly piped up. "Same here. Maybe I'll look at it later though. I mean I will be able to see what you guys do in the club fair next week."

The rest of their lunch went on as normal. Okuyasu saying something silly that they all laugh at, Yukako trying to drag away Koichi, and even a few girls complimenting Josuke on his hair. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful as well. It wasn't long before the bell for the end of the day rang.

"Hey, Josuke! You ready to go home?" Okuyasu appeared around the door almost immediately after the bell had rung.

Josuke responded while gathering his things, "Sorry, man. I gotta go check out the club with Sayori."

"Hmm." He grumbled. "What is it with you? You're suddenly talking about this girl like she has been with us this whole time. Is she a Stand user?"

"Okuyasu, she has been with me this whole time. We're childhood friends, and… I'm not sure."

"Well, whatever. If you get out of your club and want to hang out with us, we'll be over by St. Gentlemen."

With that, Okuyasu walked out the door. Josuke just stared for a moment.

 _Clubs_.

Suddenly his eyes met a hand waving in front of his face. He blinked and looked up to see Sayori standing next to him.

"So… you thought about looking at our club?" she chirped. "We'll have cupcakes!"

He smiled as he looked at the cheerful girl. "Yeah, I'll come take a look."

She squealed in excitement, hugging him as he now struggled to get out of his seat. Eventually she led him down the hall to the club room. This was the day he sold his soul for a cupcake. As they walked, he thought about what Okuyasu said.

_Is she a Stand user?_

He quickly dismissed the thought as they walked into the room.

"Everyone! The new member is here!" Sayori said to the few people presently in the room.

A relatively tall girl with long purple hair greeted him, "Welcome to the Literature Club. It's a pleasure meeting you."

Then a short girl with short pink hair huffed, "Seriously? You brought a boy? Way to kill the atmosphere."

And the girl with the large white bow in her long light-brown hair smiled and said, "Ah, Josuke! What a nice surprise! Welcome to the club!"

Josuke slightly raised an eyebrow at this. _How does she know my name?_

"What are you looking at?" the pink haired girl began. "If you want to say something, say it."

Now realizing that he had unintentionally been staring at her, he quickly apologized. He had never seen her before so he assumed that she was a first-year.

"This is Natsuki, always full of energy," Sayori began, introducing the club's members. "And this is Yuri, the smartest in the club!"

The purple haired girl turned to try and hide with her hair, "D-Don't say things like that…"

"Well, it's nice to meet both of you." Josuke said, smiling.

Sayori suddenly piped up again, "And it sounds like you already know Monika, is that right?"

Before he could respond, the other girl, dubbed as Monika, spoke, "That's right. It's great to see you again, Josuke."

As Monika smiles sweetly, it took him a while to think. "Oh, right! We had the same homeroom last year."

"Come sit down! We made room for you at the table, so you can sit next to me or Monika. I'll get the cupcakes-" Sayori said, but was suddenly cut off.

"Hey! I made them, I'll get them!" Natsuki yelled.

Yuri then spoke, "Then, how about I make some tea as well?"

Josuke noticed how there were a few desks arranged to form a table while Natsuki went to grab a wrapped tray and Yuri retrieved a tea set from the closet. He sat down by Sayori, smiling to himself, glad that he had decided to come.

Natsuki set the tray down on the table. "Okaaay, are you ready? … Ta-daa!"

The club 'ooh'ed at the dozen white, fluffy cupcakes decorated to look like little cats. All except for Josuke, who quickly raised his hand over each of his eyes before putting it back down without anyone noticing. He was never completely sure if Yoshikage Kira was gone, so he got a bit paranoid at times whenever he saw something that even slightly resembled that terrifying Stand, Killer Queen. Also there was that strange cat plant that Okuyasu takes care of.

Josuke snapped back into reality when he heard Monika. "I had no idea you were so good at baking, Natsuki!"

Natsuki responded, "Ehehe. Well, you know. Just hurry and take one!"

The club members each take one and begin to eat it. Josuke hopes that this cupcake isn't bad because it would be pretty lame if he came all this way to join this club for a mediocre cupcake. He then took a bite.

It was amazing! This was easily the best cupcake he had ever had! He thought for a moment that this Natsuki girl could be related to Tonio, but then he dismissed it when he remembered that Tonio was from Italy.

"Wow! This is great! Thanks, Natsuki!" he exclaimed before continuing to finish it.

A light blush dusted her face as she said, "W-Why are you thanking me? It's not like I… made them for you or anything."

He blinked. "Uh, I thought that you kinda did. Sayori said that-"

"Well, maybe! But not for, y-you know, you! Dummy…"

Just then Yuri returned to the table with the tea set and laid out cups for everyone.

"How come you have a tea set in the classroom?" Josuke asked.

"Don't worry. The teacher said it was okay. Plus, isn't it a good thing to enjoy a cup of tea while enjoying a good book?" Yuri responded.

He shrugged as Monika piped up, "Don't let yourself get intimidated, Yuri's just trying to impress you."

Yuri looked almost insulted as her face turned bright red. "Eh?! T-That's not… I meant that, you know…"

"No, I understand. While I'm not too familiar with tea and reading, I at least enjoy tea." Josuke responded, not entirely sure what to think about all of this.

Yuri faintly sighed in relief while Monika raised an eyebrow then looked at Josuke. "So, what made you consider the Literature Club?"

Josuke was a bit quiet for a moment then he knew what he should say. "Well, Sayori spoke pretty highly of this club so I thought I'd check it out. Plus, I'm also friends with Rohan so I'm sure getting into literature might help me become better friends with him."

Natsuki's mouth was wide open. "Do you mean Rohan Kishibe? The manga artist?!"

"Uh, well… yeah."

Monika smiled. "Well, we'll make sure you feel right at home okay? As president of the Literature Club, it's my duty to make the club fun and exciting for everyone!"

The rest of the club went on questioning Josuke about his reading habits and experience. He was a bit surprised when Monika had given them an assignment to write a poem for the next meeting after he had confirmed that he would join the club. On his way out, Monika made him sign an attendance sheet, to confirm that he had joined the club.

However, as he walked home with Sayori, he was suddenly reminded of something Hazamada said.

' _Stand users attract other Stand users._ '

Josuke then looked back towards the school. _Could one of the club members be a Stand user?_

**-To Be Continued**


	2. What's the worst that could happen?

While Josuke was at his club meeting, two of his friends were sitting outside a café nearby St. Gentlemen.

"Man… Hey, Koichi?" Okuyasu mumbled, eating a sandwich he had bought from there.

The boy with the silver hair looked up from his work. He thought that he would take advantage of this moment to finish his assignments for tomorrow.

"Yeah? What is it?"

"Have you noticed anything off about Josuke?"

Koichi blinked and then closed his work book, keeping his pen on the page he was working on so he could go back to it quickly. "Well… not really, other than him joining the Literature Club."

Okuyasu banged his hand on the table. "Exactly! I've known Josuke for a while now and neither of us can stand literature. So why the sudden interest? Stand user."

"W-What?! A Stand user?!" Koichi stammered. "Come on, Okuyasu. You don't really think this could be the work of an enemy Stand, do you?"

"Hey! I know I'm not that smart, but I can tell that something is off about my friend. Why the interest in clubs? And who is this Sayori girl? Why hasn't he even mentioned her before if they are 'childhood friends?' There must be a new Stand user!"

"Okuyasu… We've had a pretty busy summer. I don't think that it would make sense for Josuke to tell about his childhood friend while we were searching for… that guy."

Okuyasu thought back to their summer. He then thought of how dumb and weird it would be if Josuke randomly talked about his childhood friend as he climbed up that guy's pylon.

"… Yeah. Well, we still know nothing about her besides being friends with Josuke. That would be suspicious. Wouldn't it?"

"Hmm. I guess. But that does not necessarily mean that there is a new enemy Stand user. Besides… Hey, is that Rohan?"

Koichi had noticed the manga artist walking by. Rohan was idly looking around when he spotted Koichi sitting down outside the café.

He then walked up to them and said, "Ah! Koichi! How are you?" He then looked over at Okuyasu and nodded. "Okuyasu."

Okuyasu turned back to his sandwich and took another bite. Koichi then thought that Rohan might be able to help them figure out what's up with Josuke.

"Um… Hey, Rohan?"

"Yes?"

"Have you seen Josuke today? He was acting different somehow."

The manga artist began to smile a little. "Different how?"

"Well he has now brought up his 'childhood friend,' Sayori, and he's suddenly taken interest in joining the Literature Club at school."

Rohan blinked and then began to laugh. The two sitting down looked at each other and then back at Rohan.

"The Literature Club?! Oh! That's rich! Hahaha!"

Okuyasu, still facing away, said, "I think it's a Stand user, but I don't think Koichi believes me."

"Okuyasu, that isn't what I-" Koichi began, but was suddenly cut off by Rohan once he regained his composure.

"Oh no, he's right." The two then looked at him. "It was a Stand user: me!"

"WHAT?!" the two yelled in confusion.

"But Rohan… why?" Koichi asked in disbelief.

"You… The Hand!" Okuyasu yelled as his blue and silver Stand appeared behind him.

Rohan quickly held up his hand to surrender while slowly regaining his composure. "Wait wait wait! It was only fair."

"Only fair?! You tricked one of our friends with your Stand!" he yelled as he sent his Stand forward, its right hand beginning to glow.

"OKUYASU! Stop it, please!" Koichi screamed at his friend as he brought out his Stand, Echoes Act 3, to hold back The Hand.

Noticing that they were making quite a scene, Rohan then whispered, "I didn't do anything to harm Josuke. Consider this a mere prank."

"A prank?" Okuyasu asked, retracting his Stand while Koichi did the same.

"Precisely! All I did was make Josuke believe that he was great friends with this random girl. I made her believe the same about him as well. The only thing this might do is get him mixed up in her life. I mean, what's so wrong about making a new friend?"

Okuyasu huff and crossed his arms, "Well, I don't like it. I just wanted to hang out with my friend."

The other two could clearly tell that he was jealous of Josuke spending time with someone he had never met.

Rohan then continued where he had left off. "Besides, what's the worst that could happen?"

"One of them could be a Stand user," Okuyasu muttered under his breath.

* * *

Meanwhile, Josuke was working on his poem at home.

"Hmm… next word… uh… ah! **Crazy**!" He exclaimed. He quickly added the final line to his poem. Great! Now it's done! He decided that he would go hang out with his friends, until he looked out the window. After noticing that it was dark outside, he looked over at his clock.

_10:14?!_ _Have I really been working that long?!_

Josuke then remembered that the club ended about two hours after school did so he now had even less time at home. Plus it did take him a while to finish up his history paper.

"Oh well… I hope they like the poem at least," he said as he prepared to get ready for bed.

* * *

The next day, he opened his door and jumped back in surprise to see Okuyasu standing there with a wide grin on his face. "Come on, Josuke! You don't want to be late for school do you?"

Josuke nervously laughed a bit. "Yeah, l-let's go."

They were walking for a bit before either of them spoke. "Okuyasu," Josuke began. "How come you're ready so early?"

Okuyasu appeared to take offense to that, but they both knew he was only joking. "What are you talking about? I'm always on time."

The two shared a laugh before they heard a female voice coming up behind them. "Josuke…!"

They both turned around to see Sayori running up to them.

She finally caught up to them after they stopped and she looked up at Josuke, out of breath. "How… did… your poem… come along…? Oh…! Who's this?"

"I think it went pretty well, and this is my friend, Okuyasu." said Josuke.

"Hiya!" Sayori said, smiling and waving.

A light blush was dusted across Okuyasu's face. "Uh… hi…"

_Man, she's cute._

"Anyway, you both ready for school today?" Josuke asked as he turned around to begin walking to school.

They both turn to walk along with him and say in unison, "Yeah!"

**-To Be Continued**


	3. Are you feeling okay?

The school day went on as normal. By the time it ended, Okuyasu had asked Josuke if wanted to hang out. He was slightly disappointed when he was reminded that he had go to his club meeting. And with that, the two went their separate ways.

"Yo! I'm here!" Josuke said cheerfully as he entered the classroom.

"Hi again, Josuke!" Monika greeted him. "Glad to see you didn't run away on us. Hahaha!"

"What? Of course not. After all we did yesterday, how could I?"

Yuri quietly piped up, "Thanks for keeping your promise. I hope this isn't too overwhelming of a commitment for you. Making you dive headfirst into literature when you're not accustomed to it…"

"Oh, come on! Like he deserves any slack. Sayori told me that you didn't even think about joining a club this year. I don't know if you plan to come here and hang out, or what… But if you don't take us seriously, then you won't see the end of it," Natsuki said.

"Natsuki, you certainly have a big mouth for someone who keeps their manga collection in the clubroom." Monika chimed in.

Natsuki blushed a bit and began to pout. "Manga is literature!" She then stopped and looked at Josuke. "Hey, didn't you say the other day that you actually KNEW Rohan Kishibe?"

Josuke scratched the back of his head. "Uh, well, yeah I do know him. How come?"

She suddenly noticed that everyone was looking at her.

She then folded her arms and looked away. "N-Nothing! I was just making sure I heard you right."

Silence hung in the room for a moment as they all processed what just happened.

Josuke decided to break the silence. "So, what are we going to do with our poems again?"

"We'll be sharing our poems later. For now, just have fun guys!" Monika answered him, smiling sweetly.

As the group began to disperse, Sayori quickly informed Josuke, "Oh, oh! Yuri brought you something today, you know-"

"W-Wait! Sayori…" said Yuri, embarrassed for being put on the spot like that.

He blinked and looked at Yuri. "Huh? For me…?"

"Um… Not really… It's really nothing."

"What is it?"

"N-Never mind. Sayori made it sound like it's a big deal when it's really not…"

"H-Hey, it doesn't matter. You don't need to worry about it. I wasn't even expecting anything at all. So there's no reason to worry over this too much. I'm sure it can't be that bad."

"… Well, alright… Here."

She reached into her bag and pulled out a book.

"I didn't want you to feel left out… So I picked a book that I thought you might enjoy. It's a short read, so it should keep your attention, even if you don't usually read. And we could, you know… discuss it… if you wanted…"

Josuke was pretty surprised. He thought that it was really kind of her to pick out a book she thought he would like.

"R-Really? Thanks! I'll definitely read this." He enthusiastically took the book.

Yuri sighed in relief. "I look forward to hearing what you think."

Once she went off to go read book, Josuke looked around to see that everyone else was already doing something else. Sayori and Monika were having a conversation at the front of the classroom, and Natsuki was rummaging around in the closet.

_Man. It looks like no one wants to be bothered today. What should I do now? Maybe I should read some of the book that Yuri gave me._

Josuke sat down in a desk and pulled out the book. He quickly looked over the cover and read its title.

_'_ _Enigma'_

Suddenly the book flipped open to a page where the words were ordered in a way that made it look like a face.

"Josuke!" face in the book yelled.

"WHAT?! HOW?! Crazy Diamond!" Josuke had stood up from his desk as he activated his Stand ability. He shook his head before he attacked and looked back at the book again.

It was perfectly normal. The book was still closed and its title read: _A Portrait of Markov_. He looked around to see that everyone was looking at him, even Natsuki was peaking her head out of the closet. He silently began to sweat as he retracted Crazy Diamond.

_What do they think happened? What should I say? COULD ANY OF THEM SEE CRAZY DIAMOND?!_

After a few seconds of silence, he rubbed the back of his head and said, "Uh, sorry about that. I thought I saw a spider."

Natsuki quickly popped back into the closet, Sayori went back to her conversation, but Yuri and Monika's gazes lingered for a moment before going back to what they were doing.

He gulped.

_Were those two able to see it? And if they could, what Stand abilities do they have?_

Josuke looked back at the book again to see that it was still closed.

_Could one of their Stand abilities have caused that?_

He looked around again, only to see that everyone was doing their own thing again.

_Maybe I should get to know each one of them and figure out who it could be._

He decided to start with Natsuki since she was the first to look away from him, possibly to eliminate any suspicion. As Josuke approached the closet he heard an exasperated sigh.

Once he sees her, he asked, "You need some help looking for something?"

Natsuki responded without turning around. "Freaking Monika… She never puts my stuff back in the right spot."

He noticed that she was sorting out a bunch of manga.

She then looked over her shoulder at Josuke and asked, "You read manga, right?"

"Uh… sometimes. I haven't read that much manga. It's more Koichi's thing."

She raised an eyebrow upon hearing that name. She had never heard of him before, but she just brushed it off believing that this 'Koichi' is one of Josuke's friends.

"Earlier you asked about Rohan," Josuke began. "Was there anything you wanted to know specifically?"

She blushed slightly and turned back around to continue sorting out the manga. "I was just wondering if maybe you would help me… m-meet him or something. His work is some of my favorite in the world, and I thought that it would be cool to tell him something like that."

Josuke smiled to see that someone who acted so stubborn would think about doing something nice. His smile fell once he noticed something on the back of her neck. It looked like a bruise or something, just peeking out from behind her collar.

_What's that? Could this be from the Arrow?_

He decided that he might as well heal her since she showed no hostility towards him. He brought out his Stand which gently touched her neck, healing her bruise.

Natsuki suddenly straightened up and put her hand do her chest. She then turned around and was face to face with Crazy Diamond, but she looked straight through it to look at Josuke in the eye.

Assuming that she could see his Stand, he nervously asked, "Uh… Are you feeling okay?"

After a second Natsuki looked down at the floor and took a deep breath. "Y-Yes actually. I've never felt better."

Josuke sighed in relief as she turned back around, not even paying attention to Crazy Diamond. He then noticed a lone manga volume in a shelf high up. He picked it up and she then looked at it.

"There it is!" Natsuki exclaimed as she snatched it out of his hands. She then puts it into a box of manga. "Aah, much better! Seeing a box set with one book missing is probably the most irritating sights in the world."

Despite not being that into literature in general, Josuke completely agreed. Intrigued as to what was in the box, he looked in and read the title.

"Parfait Girls…?"

He had never heard of this before so he didn't know what to think.

Natsuki pointed at the door and said, "If you're gonna judge, you can do it through the glass on that door."

He began to chuckle a bit. "That was pretty good… But I wasn't judging anything."

"Well, I've got a lesson for you straight from the Literature Club: Don't judge a book by its cover!" She then pulled out the first volume of Parfait Girls. "I'm going to show you exactly why!" Natsuki shoved the book into his hands.

_Ah… Dang it. I was planning on going to see Yuri now to see if she is a Stand user. Natsuki is obviously not or else she would have reacted when she saw Crazy Diamond. Well, I guess I can't leave her hanging. Plus what's wrong with making a new friend?_

Josuke looked at the cover to see several girls striking feminine anime poses.

Natsuki then spoke up, "Don't just stand there!"

She then grabbed his arm to pull him out of the closet. As she did this, he noticed just how small she was compared to him. He might even say he was about half a meter taller than her. Natsuki then took a seat against the wall, beneath the windowsills. She patted the ground next to her to tell Josuke to sit with her. He sat down with her, still towering over her.

"Alright…" Josuke sighed as he opened the book.

She begins to read with him. "Wow, how long has it been since I read the beginning…?"

They began to read for a bit. Josuke wasn't really paying much attention because nothing had really happened yet. It seems like it was just about a bunch of friends in high school. It reminded him of Koichi and Okuyasu. He was disappointed that he wasn't able to hang out with them yesterday. Since he didn't have that many assignments due tomorrow he decided that he would go spend some time with them.

"Hey, are you even paying attention?" Natsuki asked frustratingly.

"Wha- uh… yeah. But… is there ever going to be a plot?"

Natsuki then talked about some of the events that would happen later in the story. They continued to read on for a few minutes. Reading through a few chapters, they occasionally spoke about their situation of her having to basically watch him read. As he read, he noticed that there was a lot of cooking in this manga. He assumed that she might have taken her interest in cooking from reading this.

_Maybe I should introduce her to Tonio. I might as well bring Rohan while I'm at it since she was so eager about meeting him._

The thought about seeing Tonio helping Natsuki learn new things to cook made him smile.

"Okay, everyone!" Monika began, addressing the club. "Are you all ready with today's poems?"

Natsuki spoke up, "Oh come on! Could your timing be any worse?"

"Sorry! I just need to make sure we have enough time. Though you do look pretty cozy over there. Ahaha!"

"Eh-?!" Natsuki blushed, noticing that the whole club was looking at her. "A-ah!"

She then noticed how close she had gotten to Josuke and quickly slid herself away.

Josuke blinked. "Uh… I guess we'll stop here for now." He then closes the book and hands it to Natsuki.

"You're just giving it back? Don't you want to know what happens?"

"Uh… well, Monika said that-"

"Don't be dumb. Just take it home with you."

"Woah, really? Are you sure?"

"Yeah. You can finish this one so we can start the next one by tomorrow."

"By tomorrow…?" Josuke looks a bit nervous because he can't think of when he would have time to read this if he hung out with his friends. "Well… okay." He then got up to put the book in his bag.

Monika then approached him. "By the way, did you remember to write a poem last night?"

Josuke smiled. "Yeah, I did! I really liked the way it turned out. Want to see?"

Monika smiled sweetly. "Sure!"

They exchanged poems. Josuke was pretty proud of his poem and Monika could see why.

* * *

_Best Friend_

My best friend is always by my side.

He has always been there, fixing life's mistakes.

Only some can see him, those with a friend like me.

He watches over, shining bright like a diamond.

He stopped the queen from taking what is ours.

He did not shiver before the doors of heaven.

He does not only see what is on the surface.

My friend is a diamond, and my friend looks up to a star.

This is a star that had shone over the world.

A star is unstoppable, but a diamond is unbreakable.

But he hopes that one day, he too can shine as crazy bright as that star.

* * *

"Wow, Josuke! That was pretty good for someone with little literary experience." Monika stated, impressed.

He was still reading her poem, but when he was done he looked up at her and smiled. "Thanks, Monika! I liked yours too."

She giggled. "Thanks. Hey, are you feeling okay? You gave me quite a scare earlier. You looked like you had seen a ghost."

"Ah… well I guess I had just learned that I'm more afraid of spiders than I thought," he laughed nervously.

"I just wanted to point out something about your poem. Your writing style is a bit all over the place. I suggest that you show listen to the others and ask for their advice on the matter."

"Oh, really? Thanks, I guess."

"Anyway, here's Monika's Writing Tip of the Day! Sometimes when you're writing a poem – or a story – your brain gets too fixated on a specific point… if you try so hard to make it perfect, then you'll never make any progress. Just force yourself to get something down on the paper, and tidy it up later! Another way to think about it is this. If you keep your pen in the same spot for too long, you'll just get a big dark puddle of ink. So just move your hand, and go with the flow! That's my advice for today! Thanks for listening."

"Well, thanks! I know I'll be busy with my new pen. Thanks for the advice!"

Josuke eventually went around exchanging poems with the rest of the club members. He had taken in each of their criticisms about his poem and listening to some of their ideas for his future poems. He then thought about more important matters.

_This club… there's something off. I'm sure this is no coincidence. Stand users attract other Stand users. That must mean at least one of them is a Stand user, or maybe they all are! But I've got to play this safe. No randomly bringing out Crazy Diamond again. I don't know if I can cross out Natsuki. Either she isn't a Stand user or she is EXTREMELY good at acting. Ah… I'm probably just over reacting. She's probably fine. Although, I should probably spend some time with Yuri and Monika. There's no reason to rush. Sayori is fine, I've known her my whole life, right?_

As he was lost in thought, he overheard Natsuki and Yuri begin to argue.

"Maybe you're just jealous that Josuke appreciates my advice more than he appreciates yours." Yuri said.

"Huh! And how do you know he didn't appreciate my advice more?" Natsuki quipped. "Are you that full of yourself?"

"I…! No… If I was full of myself, I would deliberately go out of my way to make everything I do overly cutesy!"

"Uuuuuuu…!"

"Um… is everyone okay?" Sayori asked.

"Well you know what?!" Natsuki yelled. "I wasn't the one whose boobs magically grew a size bigger as soon as Josuke started showing up!"

Josuke's eyes widened.

_D-Did that happen? I hadn't noticed…_

"N-Natsuki!" Yuri gasped, embarrassed beyond belief.

Monika tried to step in, "Um, Natsuki that's a little-"

"This doesn't involve you!" both Natsuki and Yuri yelled at her.

"I-I don't like fighting guys…!" Sayori whispered.

They then suddenly turn towards Josuke.

"Josuke…!" Yuri began. "She-She's just trying to make me look bad…!"

"That's not true! She started it! If she could get over herself and learn to appreciate that simple writing is more effective, then this wouldn't have happened in the first place! What's the point in making your poems all convoluted for no reason? The meaning should jump out at the reader, not force them to figure it out. Help me explain that to her, Josuke!" said Natsuki.

"W-wait! There's a reason we have so many deep and expressive words in our language! It's the only way to convey complex feelings and meaning the most effectively. Avoiding them is not only unnecessarily limiting yourself… it's also a waste. You understand that, right, Josuke?"

Josuke was speechless. "Um…"

"Well?!" they both ask simultaneously.

_Oh, great. How did I get into this mess in the first place? Dang, I wish I had Star Platinum to get out of this._

He sighed. "Look, I liked both of your poems. But the thing is, I barely know a thing about literature. Besides, you both have completely different writing styles. How can I say which one is better? It's like asking: which is better, a spoon or a car? There's no comparison."

They both looked at the floor then glanced at each other.

"Also, insulting each other does not help either of your cases," he added.

After a few minutes of uncomfortable situations, the two apologized to each other.

Monika then spoke up to the whole club. "Well, now that we're past that, everyone's read each other's poems, right? I hope that was worthwhile for everyone! Especially you, Josuke! And to be honest, it's a nice change of pace from the lazing around we got a little too used to."

"So, I guess me joining the club kinda ruined the atmosphere…" said Josuke.

"No, not at all!" Monika stated, almost hurt by what he said. "Well, anyway, let's do the same thing tomorrow. I think that we all learned a lot by sharing poems."

_Great. Another poem. Well, this should be fine. I guess I'll be staying up late._

"Josuke!" Sayori began. "Ready to walk home?"

"Y-Yeah, right. Let's go." He responded.

* * *

Josuke glanced back at the clubroom to make sure that nothing was off.

"Sayori, that thing between Yuri and Natsuki, does that happen often?" Josuke asked as they were already in their neighborhood.

"Uh, not really. No. That's honestly the first time I've seen them fight like that. I promise you they're both wonderful people. You don't… You don't hate them, do you?" she asked him, lowering her demeanor.

"What? Hate them? I've only just met them. It's not like they're-… evil or anything…"

"Heh, right. You know, I'm glad that I get to spend time with you in the club, but I think seeing you get along with everyone is what makes me the happiest. And I think everyone really likes you, too!"

"Ah… well, I guess we'll see what will happen in the future, Sayori."

_I had a lot of fun today. But I can't forget about Okuyasu and Koichi again! Once I take her home, I'll go see them and tell them what I saw._

**-To Be Continued**


	4. Help

Running down the street to see his friends, Josuke had just left Sayori after dropping her off at her home. As he ran he passed by a large, odd-looking stone.

"Hey, Angelo!" he said as he ran past it.

A muffled scream could be heard as Josuke ran past it. After a few minutes, he had finally reached the café where his friends were sitting.

He greeted them as he approached, "Hey! Koichi! Okuyasu!"

"Hey, Josuke!" said Koichi. "See, Okuyasu, he did show up."

Okuyasu smiled brightly. "Y-Yeah! Well… I didn't doubt it for a second."

Josuke slowed his pace as he finally took a seat at their table, breathing heavily.

"Sorry I was late. I was walking home with Sayori."

Okuyasu grumbled, a light blush dusting his cheeks, "You know, you could have… brought her with you… or something…"

Koichi and Josuke smiled, understanding what he meant.

"So, how was your club meeting?" Koichi asked.

"It was fun! We got to share poems that we had written yesterday. You guys want to see?"

"Sure!"

Josuke took out his poem and handed it to Koichi. Once he had read it over, he handed it to Okuyasu.

"That was pretty good!" Koichi said. "It was about Crazy Diamond right?"

"Yeah. I thought that writing about it would be easy for me and the others would think that it's all metaphorical and stuff." Josuke stated.

Meanwhile, Okuyasu was now holding the poem sideways and squinting.

"I don't get it," he said handing it back to Josuke. "I guess it's a good thing I didn't join your club."

"It's fine, Okuyasu," said Josuke reassuringly.

"So, who else is in the club?" Koichi asked.

"Well, there's Sayori, then there's Yuri, and Natsuki, and of course there's the club president, Monika."

"Monika? Isn't she really popular? It thought she was part of the Debate Club."

"Well, she told me that she wasn't fond of all the politics surrounding the major clubs. I guess she was just inspired to start her own club." After talking about the club, Josuke remembered what he had wanted to talk to them about. "Also, guys, something strange happened in the club."

"Huh? Strange how?" Koichi asked.

"Well, there were some pretty normal things that happened, like Natsuki loaned me a manga volume."

"What manga?"

"Parfait Girls. Do you know if it's any good?"

Koichi cringed slightly. "W-Well… I don't really know much, but it's more targeted towards girls, but I know that there isn't really anything important that happens."

Josuke sighed, "Ah well. Anyway, before that, Yuri gave me a book."

"What's strange about all this? This just sounds like these people are being nice to you. What book is it anyway?" Okuyasu piped up.

"It's _A Portrait of Markov_ , but-… You okay?"

Okuyasu gritted his teeth. "That's a really creepy book. I haven't read many books, but that book is one that I have. It is REALLY weird."

Josuke began to sweat nervously. "Ah… But that wasn't the strange part. The strange part was when I first looked at it, the cover said _Enigma_."

Koichi's eyes widened as he straightened up. "R-really?! You mean that book guy's Stand?!"

"Yeah, and then the pages opened up by itself and he called my name. But when I looked at it again the book was back to normal."

"STAND USER!" Okuyasu yelled, banging the table and startling his friends. "I knew it! This whole thing had seemed suspicious. I mean, I know that Rohan did play a part in it but-"

"Wait," Josuke began. "What do you mean you know Rohan played a part in it?"

"Uh…"

Okuyasu didn't really know what to do. He didn't know how Josuke would react after learning that he was turned into a book.

Koichi sighed, "Josuke, Rohan told us that he had used Heaven's Door on you to make you believe that Sayori is your childhood friend. We only found out yesterday."

"What?! Did he really do that? What for and- wait. You're telling me that Sayori and I aren't childhood friends?" Josuke asked with a hint of sadness.

"Well, you had never mentioned her before yesterday. We were told that he just picked some random girl to get you involved in her life. He said it was revenge for burning down his house."

"I can understand getting revenge, but that's too messed up! What about her? What if I tell her that I was never friends with her before? This is just… Gah!"

"I'm sorry, Josuke. But I don't think you've ever even spoken with her before Rohan messed with you guys."

"Are you going to quit the club?" Okuyasu asked, sounding hopeful.

"… No. I might know that we're not childhood friends, but she probably doesn't. It would be really messed up to just stop showing up or hanging out with them. Plus, I've become good friends with them. There's no reason to stop just because I wasn't friends with them as kids."

"… I'm sorry too, Josuke. But was there anything else strange that happened?"

Josuke sat in silence, elbows on the table and his hands in his hair, messing it up slightly. After a few seconds, he wiped his eyes and sat up.

"Y-Yeah. When the book opened and said my name, I brought out Crazy Diamond and the whole club was looking at me." His friends looked inquisitively at him. "I played it off like I had seen a spider, but I don't know if any of them could see it. Before they went back to what they were doing, Yuri and Monika were looking at me the longest."

"Maybe they're both Stand users. Or maybe the others are and they're just trying to hide it." Okuyasu said.

"I don't think Sayori is a Stand user, but I'm not one-hundred percent sure about Natsuki. I spent some time with her today and I noticed a bruise on the back of her neck. I thought it might be from being shot by the Arrow. I then healed her because she didn't show any hostility, and I thought that it might trigger her to attack. She was face to face with Crazy Diamond and she didn't even acknowledge it."

Koichi looked concerned. "If she isn't a Stand user and she wasn't hit by the arrow, how did she get that bruise?"

Josuke thought about this for a moment. "I… I don't know. I didn't think about it being anything other than the arrow at the time. I had only just noticed her bruise a minute after I freaked out and activated my Stand."

"So, the ones who could be Stand users are Yuri and Monika," Okuyasu stated, figuring out all of what Josuke had just said.

"Yeah…" Josuke began. "I'll try to spend some time with each of them and get to know them better. Once I've done that, I'll probably be able to determine if they are Stand users or not."

"That sounds good," said Koichi. "Do you think that we should join the club to help you with this? Should we tell Rohan or even Jotaro about this?"

"No, I think that if there are Stand users in that club, they might feel threatened from having two more Stand users joining the club. We have no idea what abilities they have anyway. And don't get Rohan in just yet, I can probably do this by myself. Plus, Jotaro is working. This is a school club with a few possible Stand users. He only came to Morioh because there were dangerous people with Stands."

Okuyasu and Koichi looked at him with concern. "Well, if you need any help while you're in the club, just call us." Koichi said.

"Yeah. We can just hang out here until your club is over. This café is pretty close to school." Okuyasu added.

Josuke smiled, "Thanks guys. You're the best."

They all smiled at that and decided that they should be getting home since it was late.

_Alright. I need to come up with a plan for how I'll do this. But first I need to write another poem._

**-To Be Continued**


	5. The Plan

Another day had passed, and it was time for the club again. Josuke and his friends met up earlier at lunch to discuss their plan.

* * *

"So, Josuke will investigate the club by himself," Koichi began. "Meanwhile, Okuyasu and I will be on standby at the café. If Josuke does need our help, he'll call the café from the phone in the room across the hall. If he does not contact us somehow ten minutes after the club has ended, we will assume the worst and go to help him."

"That sounds like a pretty good plan," Okuyasu said.

Josuke nodded. "Yeah. We can do this."

* * *

Josuke was walking down the hall to the clubroom.

_Right, so today I should try to do two things: spend some time with Yuri and ask Natsuki about her bruise. Seems simple enough. Here I go._

He then walked in.

Sayori greeted him, "Hi Josuke!"

"H-hey, Sayori," he nervously responded, now knowing that he is not childhood friends with her. He felt a bit conflicted about all this.

_Hmm. You know, I'll just act like nothing is different. She's cool, and why would I want to suddenly not be friends with her?_

Josuke then smiled at her, "You seem like you're in a good mood today."

She giggled, "I'm just still not used to you being in the club, that's all."

"I see…"

"Hey, are you hungry? 'Cause I'm hungry! Will you come with me to buy a snack?"

"Um… no thanks."

"Eh? T-that's not like you at all!"

He gulped.

_Has she noticed something already? That can't be true. I'll just play it off cool._

"I'm not really that hungry right now."

"W-Well could you give me some money for the vending machine? I'll pay you back tomorrow!"

"Yeah, sorry, but I don't have any money either. I kinda spent it all over the summer."

"W-What? You spent it all?"

"… Why is that so strange?"

"I remember you told me that you won the lottery over the summer. That's the money you meant right?"

"Ah, no. The money I'm talking about is the money my dad gave me before he went back to America."

"Oh… How much did you win though?"

"Um… five million yen."

"FIVE MILLION YEN?!" Sayori screamed, making everyone in the room look at her. "You can do whatever you want with that kind of money!"

"Hey, I didn't even get all of it. I only got a third of it since I got it with some friends. And I can't use any of it since my mom put it all in a savings account."

"Some friends? What about me, huh? Which friends?" she began to pout.

"That would be Okuyasu and-" _… Shigechi._

Josuke looked at Sayori's face and decided to not tell her about what exactly happened with him.

"Okuyasu and a really cool middle schooler. He and his family moved away a few months ago so you probably wouldn't know him."

"W-Well you still could have kept it a secret from your mom!"

Yuri suddenly giggled, her face in her book as usual. "Ah-!" she was startled and seemed embarrassed. "I wasn't listening in or anything…! It was just… something in my book…"

_Hmm. I don't buy it. Looks like I'll ask Natsuki about her bruise later._

Sayori then approached Yuri. "Hey, you have any money I can borrow? I'll pay you back, promise!"

Yuri looked at her and sighed. "You should only buy what you can responsibly afford, and frankly, after just randomly asking the same of Josuke, your suffering is fair enough retribution."

Sayori and Josuke were quiet.

"Ah! I-I didn't mean it…" Yuri stammered.

Sayori began to laugh a bit. "I really like it when you speak your mind, Yuri. It doesn't happen much but it's a fun side of you."

The two began to banter a bit over what had happened. Then out of nowhere, something smacked Sayori in the face and falls onto the desk.

She rubbed her face. "Ow… What was- Eh? A-a cookie!"

They notice that the thing that hit her was a giant cookie wrapped in plastic. She glanced around.

"I-Is this a miracle? It's because I paid my restitution!"

Natsuki was standing in the doorway, laughing. "I was just gonna give it to you, but then I heard you blab about the cupcakes. It was totally worth seeing your reaction though."

"N-Natsuki! That's so nice of you! I'm so happy!" Sayori said, then hugging the cookie.

"Uh… Are you going to eat it?" Josuke asked her.

Without answering, she quickly teared open the wrapper and takes a big bite. "Sho good… Mmf!" She suddenly covered her mouth with her hands. "I bit my tongue…"

Josuke chuckled as he then sat on the desk next to her, secretly activating Crazy Diamond to make her feel better.

"You're going through a lot over just one cookie," said Natsuki as she takes a bite out of her own cookie.

"Ah, yours looks really good too, Natsuki! Can I try it?"

"Jeez… Beggars can't be choosers!"

"But yours is chocolate…"

"Yeah, why do you think I gave you that one?"

"Fine. Still, I'm really happy that you shared this one with me." Sayori then got out of her seat and hugged Natsuki from behind.

Natsuki looked away and blushed slightly. "Ah- Jeez…"

She then tried to nudge Sayori off of her with cookie still in her hand. As she did so, Sayori leaned down and took a bite out of Natsuki's cookie.

"H-HEY! Did you seriously just do that?!"

Sayori began to walk away to safety, mouth full. Josuke and Yuri laughed at the sight of all this.

Natsuki fumed, "Jeez! You're such a kid sometimes! Monika can you tell Sayori- Eh?"

She glanced around the room. Monika is not in the clubroom.

"Where is Monika?"

"Good question…" Yuri added. "Have any of you heard anything about her being late today?"

"Not me," Sayori said, swallowing what she stole off of Natsuki's cookie.

"I haven't either," Josuke followed.

"Hmm… That's a bit unusual," Yuri pondered.

"I hope she's okay…" said Sayori.

After a few minutes of speculation on what Monika was doing that was making her late, the rest of the club split off to do their own things. Josuke then decided that now would be a good time to talk to Natsuki. He approached her as she was rummaging around in the closet again.

"Hey, Natsuki?" Josuke called out to her.

She turned around to look at him. "Hey. Did you finish reading the first volume?"

"I mean, I did, but that's not what I wanted to talk about-"

"Great! We can get started on the next one when you put back the first one. You didn't leave it at home, did you?"

"No, I have it, but I-"

"Okay, now let's see-"

"Natsuki! Can I ask you something?"

She seemed to calm down as she folded her arms. "… Sure…?"

"Yesterday, I thought I saw a bruise on the back of your neck. How did you get it?"

Natsuki stiffened up, her eyes darting all around the room. "Um… I fell down when I was setting up my manga in this closet. It was a few days before you joined so-"

"No. That bruise looked too fresh to be from a few days before. What really happened?"

"It… It doesn't even matter now. It's gone anyway."

"Natsuki…"

"JUST SHUT UP!"

Suddenly, the door to the clubroom swung open. "Sorry! I'm super sorry!" Monika said entering the room, slightly out of breath.

"Ah, there you are…" Natsuki said exiting the closet, bumping into Josuke with her shoulder.

"I didn't mean to be late. I hope you guys weren't worried or anything!"

Sayori was surprised. "Eh? Monika chose the club over her boyfriend after all! You're so strong willed!"

"B-Boyfriend…?" Monika laughed nervously. "What on Earth are you talking about?"

She quizzically glanced at Josuke as he made his way over to them from the closet.

"What held you up?" he asked.

"Ah… Well, my last period today was study hall. To be honest, I kind of just lost track of time…"

"That makes no sense, though…" Natsuki piped up. "You would have heard the bell ring, at least."

"I must not have heard it since I was practicing piano…"

"Piano…?" Yuri asked. "I wasn't aware you played music as well, Monika."

"Ah, I don't, really…! I kind of just started recently. I've always wanted to learn piano."

Sayori smiled. "That's so cool! You should play something for us, Monika!"

"That's… Maybe once I get better, I will."

"Yay!"

Josuke added, "That sounds cool. I'd like to see that too."

Monika looked at him. "Is that so? In that case, I won't let you down, Josuke." Monika smiled sweetly.

"Oh! Uh… I didn't mean to pressure you or anything."

She giggled. "Don't worry. I've been practicing a lot recently, and I'd really love the chance to share once I'm ready."

"Cool. Well, good luck with that!"

"Thanks! So, I didn't miss anything, did I?"

"Nothing very important."

Then everyone went back to what they were doing before, leaving Josuke alone.

_I could go back to Natsuki, but I don't think that she is willing to talk about that stuff anymore. Ah well… Time to investigate Yuri._

He began to approach her when he noticed the cover of her book. It was the same as the book she had lent him, and she only seemed to be on the first few pages. She then noticed that he was looking at her and hid her face deeper in her book.

Josuke spoke nervously, "I was just spacing out…"

She was beginning to feel uncomfortable. "Oh… It's fine… If I was focused, then I probably wouldn't have noticed in the first place. But I'm just reading a bit of this, so…"

"That's the book that you gave me, right?"

She nodded. "I wanted to re-read some of it. Not for any particular reason…!"

_Keep in mind, she could be a Stand user. Just play it safe._

"Any reason you have two copies of the same book?"

"Ah… Well, I stopped at the bookstore two days ago-" she stopped herself. "Ah, that's not what I meant… I mean- I… just happened to buy two of them."

"Ah, I see." He could tell that she was acting strange, but he decided to let it go. "W-Well, I'll start reading it soon, for sure!"

"I'm glad to hear… Once it starts to pick up, you might have a hard time putting it down. It's a very engaging and relatable story."

Josuke sighed internally. He was glad to hear that it was engaging, but he was still skeptical after his experience with Parfait Girls.

"What's it about, anyway?"

"Well…" Yuri began, closing her book to read the back.

Josuke now got a better look at the cover after the 'spider' incident. He saw an ominous looking eye symbol on the front.

"Alright… I just wanted to make sure I don't accidentally give anything away. Basically, it's about this girl in high school who moves in with her long-lost younger sister..." Yuri continued to talk about the book with a very calm and confident tone.

He listened to her, commenting on how the story got dark really fast.

She gently giggled. "Are you not a fan of that sort of thing, Josuke?"

"N-No, it's not that…" he began. "I mean, I can enjoy stories like that, but it just reminds me of some… unsettling experiences…"

"O-Oh… I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable…"

"It's… It's fine. I just haven't thought about reading something like that so soon."

Yuri began to talk about why she really enjoys those kinds of stories. After about a minute, she stopped herself. "Ah…! I'm rambling again, aren't I? I'm really sorry, but I feel like you should know that I have this problem… When I let things like books and writing fill my thoughts, I kind of forget to pay attention to other people. So, I'm sorry if I end up saying something strange. And please stop me if I start talking too much!"

"… I really don't think you need to worry about that. I don't mind," Josuke spoke softly, not making eye contact with her. He was clearly lost in thought.

Yuri looked at him concerned. "Are you sure you're alright…?"

"Yeah, I'm fine…"

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"I… I don't think that you would really understand. It's not something I'm too proud of."

"Was this something that happened recently?"

"Just this past summer."

Josuke was thinking about how the human experiments in the story was similar to what Kira had done with those people he killed. While he knew it was a stretch, it made him think about how they might have felt before that man killed them.

_They don't have to know about that. Only a few people actually know what one of the most evil men ever had done. Assuming they are Stand users, they might feel inspired by him, or something. But if they aren't even Stand users at all, it'll only creep them out a lot._

"H-Hey, I think I'll start reading the book," he said, now focusing on her again.

"Wha? Y-You don't have to…" Yuri stammered.

"It's alright, really. I'll go get the book." Josuke went over to his bag, got his own book and sat in the seat next to her. "Is it okay if I sit here?"

"Ah… Yeah."

He opened the book and began to read. As he read, he felt a presence over his shoulder. He could see Yuri in the corner of his eye and that she was no longer reading from her own book. Josuke looked at her and suggested that they just use the same book.

"Ah… I suppose so," she said as she closed her own copy.

The two of them spent some time reading, but most of it was spent trying to not feel uncomfortable. They kept shifting around and talking about how reading together was a new experience. Josuke was already enjoying the story a lot more than he was with Parfait Girls, but that was mostly because he didn't fit its target audience like Natsuki did. They eventually were reading and turning the pages in silence, like they were reading each other's minds.

"Hey, Yuri," Josuke began, deciding to talk for a bit. "This might be a strange thought, but the main character kind of reminds me of you."

She looked at him and asked, "You… think so? In what way?"

"I guess she's blunter in a few ways, but she second-guesses the things she does and says. Like she's afraid she'll do something wrong."

"… I see." She remained silent for a moment. "But, Josuke, that's probably a terrible thing to have in common with her!" She nervously tried to hide herself with her hair. "That's so embarrassing that you think that…"

"W-Wait! I didn't mean that in a bad way!" He sighed. "I'm sorry. I didn't know you were self-conscious about that… I guess I more meant that it's kind of cute…"

Yuri gasped, "What are you saying all of a sudden…?"

_This is just great. What have I gotten myself into?_

"Okay everyone! I think it's about time to share today's poems with each other," Monika said to the club.

Yuri sighed in relief. She then let go of the book, making it close on top of Josuke's thumb.

"Um… I guess I'll do some more reading tonight, or would you prefer I only read it with you?" Josuke asked.

"Um… I guess I don't really have much of a preference…"

"In that case, I'll read some more tonight. We could discuss it tomorrow perhaps."

Yuri smiled. "I'd like that. How about the next two chapters?"

"Yep! Sounds good!"

Josuke then put the book back in his bag. He then took out the poem he had written last night.

_I'm pretty sure that I can rule out Yuri. With all the stuff that just happened, she probably would have activated her Stand by now. Although, I still can't be sure…_

He had decided that he would first share with Sayori.

"Hey, want to share poems?"

Sayori looked up at him and smiled. "Sure!"

They exchanged poems. Josuke was pretty proud of the poem that he had written.

* * *

_Arrows_

Pointing and pointing. Always changing their direction.

Arrows are used for knowledge to show people the way.

They teach them what to do next.

But arrows can also be used as a weapon.

They make people feel threatened and scared.

They put them on the spot and center of attention.

Arrows can hurt.

Arrows can change.

Arrows can deceive.

Arrows can adapt.

Always blending in, never stopping, they will chase you.

One day, they will reach you.

You can't do anything. If you move, they move.

Arrows are the fingers of fate that show what is to come.

So take a stand, and see what fate has in store for you.

* * *

"Josuke," Sayori began. "I really love your poems. I can't believe you've been hiding these from me."

"Huh? I'm not hiding anything!" he said.

"But… they're sooo good… todays and yesterdays! There's no way you haven't done this before!"

"… Well, I'm afraid that's the case. And I… liked your poem, too!"

"Heehee! Thanks!" She nervously fiddled with her pencil. "… Say, could I keep your poem?"

"Uh… Why?"

"I don't know… This poem just speaks to me."

_I think I got her. I wrote this poem about the arrow so whoever understood it is probably a Stand user. I'm going to have to check first._

Josuke silently brought out Crazy Diamond, trying to be hidden from the other club members. It raised a hand and waved it in front of her face to see if she you react. She didn't.

_I guess I was wrong._

He retracted his Stand and began to chuckle, "You know, I'll give it to you on our way home."

The rest of the poem sharing went on pretty normally.

Once everyone was finished, Monika addressed the club, "Okay, everyone! I have something extra planned today, so if everyone could come sit at the front of the room…"

Natsuki spoke up, "Is this about the festival?"

"Well, sort of…"

"Ugh. Do we really have to do something for the festival? It's not like we can put together anything good in just a few days. We'll just end up embarrassing ourselves instead of getting any new members."

"That's a concern of mine as well," said Yuri. "I don't really do well with last-minute preparations…"

"Don't worry so much," the club president began. "We're going to keep it simple, okay? We won't need much more than a few decorations. Sayori has been working on posters, and I've designed some pamphlets we can give out during the event."

"Okay, that's great and all, but that doesn't actually tell us what we're going to be doing for the event." Natsuki stated.

"Ah, sorry! I thought you heard already. We're going to be performing!"

Yuri and Natsuki stiffened up. "Performing?" the latter asked.

"Yeah! We're going to be having a poetry performance. Each of us will choose a poem to recite during the event, but I'll be fun because we're going to let anyone else come up and recite poems too! Sayori's putting it on all the posters in case anyone wants to prepare ahead of time."

"Are you kidding me, Monika? You- You didn't start putting those posters up around school, did you?"

"… Well, I did. Do you really think it's that bad of an idea?"

"Well, no. It's not a bad idea, but I didn't sign up for this you know. There's no way I'm going to be performing in front of a group of people like that!"

"I… I agree with Natsuki," Yuri piped up.

They argued for a while, with Natsuki and Yuri saying that they wouldn't do it. Eventually, Josuke said he believed that they should do it since Monika and Sayori had already worked so hard. He thought that it wasn't too much to ask. In the end, the two girls finally gave in and agreed in the poetry presentation.

Monika said that they should practice by performing to the rest of the club. She went first and read a poem called _The Way They Fly_. After watching Monika's performance, Yuri decided that she would go next.

Yuri nervously stood at the podium. "This poem… is called… _Afterimage of a Crimson Eye_."

* * *

Meanwhile in Italy, a man sitting alone in the dark received a phone call… from his shoe.

* * *

After Yuri's surprisingly confident performance, it was Sayori's turn to read a poem, _My Meadow_. Then it was Josuke's turn to read a poem. He decided to read _Arrows_ since he didn't have his other one with him, nor did he know of any others that he vaguely remembered. Finally, Natsuki had gone up to the podium to read _Jump_. Once she finished, Monika informed the club on what to do to prepare for the festival.

Once the club meeting was coming to an end, Monika said, "Okay, everyone! I think that's about it for today. I know the festival is coming up, but let's try to write poems for tomorrow, as well. It's been working out really nicely so far, so I'd like to continue that."

Josuke sighed.

_Great…_

Monika continued, "As for the festival, we'll finish planning tomorrow, and then we'll have the weekend to prepare. Monday's the big day!"

"I can't wait!" Sayori cheered.

"I can do this… I can do this…" Yuri muttered to herself.

"Alright…" Josuke sighed, knowing he'll have to do his best to get through it. "Ready to go, Sayori?"

"Yep!" Sayori chirped.

"Look at you two, always going home together like that," Natsuki commented.

Monika chimed in, "It's kind of adorable, isn't it?"

Sayori giggled while Josuke blushed, understand what he thought they were implying.

"It must be nice though…" Yuri added.

"Uh…"

_How do I respond to that?_

"It's okay, Josuke, you don't have to say it," Sayori said reassuringly.

"R-Right. Let's go…"

* * *

The two walk home once more. They had passed by the café where Koichi and Okuyasu were earlier. Josuke had given them a thumbs-up, telling them that everything was alright. While thinking about his plan for investigating the club, Josuke noticed that Sayori was being more quiet than usual.

He decided to talk to her. "Hey, Sayori…"

She didn't react at first. "… Sorry! I was spacing out!"

"Ah… That would explain it…"

"Um… I was… thinking about something from earlier. I like how we get to- I mean… So let's just say that one day, Yuri asked to walk home with you…"

He blinked and looked at her. "Huh?!"

"What would you do?"

"… What sort of question is that…? You're kinda putting me on the spot here…"

"Well…?"

_This is just great. Why is she asking me a question like that now…? Ah well, I already know what I'm going to say…_

"Hey, do you really think that I would ditch you for Yuri?"

"Eh?! B-But… She's so beautiful and smart…"

_Remember, Josuke: she still believes that we have been friends since kids._

"So what? You've been my friend for as long as I can remember! I see her in the club every day. Besides, you always seem to enjoy going home together, and so do I!"

Sayori looked up at him and smiled, but it was different from her normal smile. They began to approach her house.

"Oh! W-Wait!" Josuke suddenly stopped and opened up his bag. He pulled out his latest poem. "As promised, here you go!"

He watched as her smile returned to how it normally is as Sayori gingerly took it from him.

"A-Are you still sure that this is okay?"

"Hey, I'm not going to hang it up."

"Well… thanks so much, Josuke!"

They waved at each other as Josuke continued on towards his house and Sayori entered her own.

_Alright, I've determined that Yuri and Sayori aren't Stand users. I still need to know what Natsuki's bruise was from, and I need to know more about Monika. Also, I should maybe hang out with Sayori some more. I hope she's alright._

As he continued walking to his house, he passed by the odd-looking stone from the other day.

"See ya, Angelo!"

Once again, a muffled scream could barely be heard from the stone.

**-To Be Continued**


	6. Down

Another day at the club began with Monika entering the room.

"Aw, man… I'm the last one here again!" she sighed.

Josuke looked up at her. "You're fine. I only just got here too."

"Were you practicing piano again?" Yuri asked.

"Yeah…" Monika nervously giggled.

"You must have a lot of determination. Starting this club, and now picking up piano…"

"Well, maybe not my determination, but I guess passion. Remember that the club wouldn't be here if it wasn't for all of you. And I'm super happy that you're all willing to help out for the festival, too!"

Natsuki jumped up excitedly. "Aaah, I can't wait for the festival! It's gonna be great!"

The group looked at her, confusion written on all of their faces.

"Weren't you complaining about it just yesterday, Natsuki?" Monika asked.

"Yeah. I'm not talking about our part of the festival, but it's a whole day of school where we get to play and eat all kinds of delicious food!"

Josuke noticed that she was acting a bit off. "You sound a bit like Sayori all of a sudden…" he said.

_Hang on. Where is Sayori anyway?_

He looked around to room to finally see Sayori sitting at a desk in the corner of the room, looking down at nothing.

"Hey, Sayori," said Josuke as he waved his hand in front of her face.

She blinked and looked up.

"You're spacing out again."

"Ah! Um… D-Don't mind me. You can just go talk to everyone else."

_What…? That's pretty out of character, especially for someone like her…_

"Is everything alright?"

"O-Of course! Why wouldn't it be?"

"Sayori, it just seems like there's something off about you…"

"Jeez, you worry too much about me. I'm fine, see?" She smiled brightly. "Don't let me distract you from having fun with everyone."

"… What? Am I not allowed to have fun with you or something?"

"A-Ah… N-No, that's not it…"

_I don't think that this has anything to do with a Stand. She just seems down for some reason. Did she find out that we aren't really childhood friends? I mean, that got me down a bit when I first found out. I think she just wants a friend… Maybe?_

"Sayori," Josuke began. "You can always talk to me. You know that right? I'm here for you if you ever need help."

Sayori looked back down at her desk and whispered, "… Th-Thank you… but not here. Just go hang out with the others today."

He looked at her with confusion and concern. He eventually said, "… Alright."

_Maybe this is a pretty personal issue that she doesn't want to talk about here. I can understand that. I should ask anyone else if they have noticed anything off about Sayori as well._

Josuke turned around and began to approach Monika.

She took notice of this and looked up at him. "Josuke! What's up?"

"Hey, this might sound a little weird, but have you noticed Sayori acting a little differently?"

"Differently? How so?"

"She just seems down today. I was just wondering if you had noticed it too."

"I can't say that I have." She then peered across the room to see Sayori idly drag an eraser around her desk. "Maybe she has something on her mind. Although, I'm surprised I'm not the one asking you, Josuke. I mean, you know her much better than I do."

_…_ _I can't really say that I don't actually know that much about her._ "Uh… I don't really know because she is never like this… She was really dismissive when I asked her about it."

"Well, thanks for telling me. I'm also friends with her, and I also care about the well-being of my club members. I'll try to speak with her myself."

"Thanks, Monika. You're the best."

Monika smiled sweetly as her cheeks took on a red hue. She then stood up and made her way to where Sayori was.

_Man, she's cute! … Wait. What? Why did I just think that?_

He sat down in a desk near the front of the room.

_I am worried about Sayori, but… Wait!_

He turned around slowly to see Monika kneeling next to the desk Sayori was at, talking to her.

_Could Monika be the Stand user? Have I made a mistake…?_

"Hey."

Josuke looked up and saw Natsuki standing in front of him, manga volume in hand.

"Oh. Hey, Natsuki. What's up?"

"You still haven't given back the first volume even though you claim to have read it."

"Wha- Oh! Right!" He reached into his bag and pulled out volume one of Parfait Girls and handed it to her.

She swiped the volume out of his hand. "Thanks."

Josuke noticed the other volume she was carrying before she took the one he had. "Oh. S-Sorry. Something just came up. We can start now."

"Jeez… Now you're making me feel like a jerk. If something's bothering you, then you can just tell me to leave you alone, and I will."

"No, it's fine. Hopefully, I'm making a bigger deal out of what it actually is. I've just been thinking about Sayori, that's all."

Natsuki straightened up and almost yelled, "S-Sayori…? Thinking about her…?"

"Yeah, she seems pretty down today, and she never said why. I can't help to wonder if something bad has happened to her."

"Oh… Okay then. W-Well, let's get started already."

"Alright."

* * *

"Okay, everyone!" Monika addressed the club after some time. "Why don't we share our poems now?"

Everyone went to retrieve their poems. Josuke made eye contact with Monika as she smiled.

_I wonder what she was talking about with Sayori. She's so kind and sweet… Again? What the hell is up with me?_

He decided to start sharing his poem with Monika.

She noticed that he was approaching her and greeted him. "Hi Josuke! Have you thought about what you want to submit to perform at the festival?"

"Well…" he began to trail off. "I'll have to think about it some more, but I might just end up performing _Best Friend_ , the one I wrote the first time."

"Okay! That one was great! Anyway, let's exchange poems."

"Sure…" said Josuke as they swapped poems.

* * *

_Town_

No one owns this town.

Everyone lives here to live a happy life.

The people are nice.

They are always willing to help.

There are many people who have friends.

There are some who are friends of friends.

And some even have best friends.

No one uses an arrow in this town.

No one points out who has more or who has less.

You can be whatever you want to be in this town.

There are those who envy, filled with greed.

Those are the ones not welcome in my town.

Those who want to hurt, those who want to harm, I will make sure they're not in my town.

* * *

"… W-Wow! Very interesting writing style," said Monika.

Josuke had finally finished reading her poem. "Thanks, and your poems just keep getting better and better each time!"

She smiled sweetly. "Thanks!"

"Say, I've been meaning to ask you, what were you and Sayori talking about?"

"O-Oh… Uh… I-It's kind of a personal issue. Not really a kind that she would want to be talking with a GUY about."

Josuke closed his eyes, nodded and slightly grimaced. He vaguely knew the territory that she was going into and knew that that is not really something that he should know about.

"Ah. Got it."

He went around, exchanging poems with everyone before he finally got to Sayori. They exchanged poems.

She remained silent for a bit. "Hm… It's nice, I guess."

"What do you mean by that?" Josuke asked.

"I-It doesn't really matter what I think. After all, you wrote this poem for someone else, didn't you?"

"What? I didn't write this for anyone specifically!"

_That was kind of a lie. Like my last one, this was more directed towards any possible Stand users._

"Maybe… That's not really what I meant, though. But it's fine. You're making new friends, just like I was hoping. That makes me… really happy. And you're happy too right, in this club?"

"Like you were hoping? What are you talking about? I mean, I am having fun in the club but-"

"Good! That's all that matters to me! Thank you, Josuke."

"Sayori, please talk to me. Tell me what's up. It doesn't have to be now, but sometime at least. Maybe we could hang out at my place after this!"

"I… Ah… No, it's fine. I'm sorry. I'm just a little tired today."

"… Just tell me if you need anything."

"I will. Just don't worry about me, okay? You can go play with everyone else now."

Josuke was speechless. He had no idea how to respond.

"I'm gonna go home a little early today," Sayori said.

"Sayori…? I'll come with you!"

"No, it's fine…"

"But Sayori, I want to-"

"Just tell Monika I wasn't feeling well and went home. Bye!"

Before he could stop her, she had already gone out of the room. He stood there trying to process what exactly just happened.

"Okay, you three!" Monika began, bringing Josuke back to reality. "We're all done sharing poems right? Why don't we start figuring out-"

"Hold on a second!" Natsuki interrupted. "Is it just me, or did you say something strange just now?"

"Oh yeah. Sayori wanted me to tell you that she wasn't feeling well so she went home." Josuke said.

"Is that so? I hope she's alright…" Yuri said concerned.

"Seriously? Of all the times to not go home with her, you pick the time she's not feeling well?" Natsuki scolded. "So much for you two being all lovey-dovey."

Josuke's eyes widened. "Ah. We're friends but I don't think that we're THAT close!"

Monika suddenly stepped in. "Anyway, we need to figure out the rest of the festival preparations, so let's decide what everyone will be doing this weekend."

Natsuki smiled. "I already know what I'm doing!"

"That's right. Natsuki will be making cupcakes. But we might need a lot of them, and different flavors… Can you handle that all by yourself, Natsuki?"

"Challenge accepted!"

"And as for myself, I'm going to be printing and assembling all the poetry pamphlets. Sayori will be helping me design them. And as for Yuri… Yuri you can… Uh… Guys, help me think of something Yuri can do." Monika whispered at the last part.

Yuri looked away. "I… I'm useless…"

* * *

Meanwhile, Josuke's nephew sneezed while on a boat, watching a dolphin migration.

* * *

"N-No!" Monika stammered. "Th-That's not it at all! You're the most talented person here, you know!"

Natsuki pouted, ashamed of Monika.

"N-Now Natsuki is pouting, too?"

Josuke signed. "Hey, Yuri. I have an idea." Yuri looked at him shyly. "Maybe you can make some banners and stuff to give the presentations a specific atmosphere."

Yuri slowly looked back towards the group. "I… I'd love to do that!"

Monika looked at them in disbelief. "Well… I think that that's a great idea! You'll be a wonderful help, Yuri. But anyway… That just leaves you, Josuke."

"The one who is truly useless," Josuke muttered jokingly.

* * *

Meanwhile, Jotaro has fallen off the boat from sneezing too hard.

* * *

Monika giggled. "Don't say that. In fact, both Natsuki and Yuri have some pretty heavy tasks to handle. It would probably go a long way to give one of them a hand. You could always help me out as well. I would be really appreciative of that."

_Hold on. Is Monika saying that I should spend the weekend with someone from the club? Dang it. I was planning on spending more time trying to figure out who's a Stand user. We might even bring Rohan into this. Oh well, I can probably fit this in somehow… But who though. Maybe I can use this time to make Sayori feel better… or find who is a Stand user. In a closed and private area would probably make the user active their Stand._

The three girls before him seemed a bit anxious as they argued while Josuke thought carefully.

_Okay let me think. Sayori, not a Stand user but appears to be down at the moment. I don't think that I could pick her because she is already helping out Monika, which rules her out as well. Yuri, not a Stand user, I'm pretty sure. And Natsuki… I could ask her about her bruise. I could find out if she was struck with the arrow._

Finally, Josuke decided. "Well, baking sounds like it could be fun, and it sounds like that could be done better with more people."

Natsuki smiled brightly. "Don't worry! Baking is tons of fun! You'll agree for sure!"

Monika and Yuri looked disappointed. The former turned to the latter and said, "You'll be fine by yourself, right, Yuri?"

"Of course," Yuri began. "I'm used to it after all…"

Everyone was silent for a moment. Josuke couldn't help to not feel bad for her. Although, he could always hang out with her next week, during or after the festival.

Natsuki suddenly spoke up, "So, that's eventually, right? Anything else we need to talk about?"

"No, I think that's about it…" Monika answered. "Are you guys excited?"

"Yes!" Natsuki cheered.

"I'm excited, too!" said Josuke.

Yuri didn't respond for a moment, sulking about having to work alone. Natsuki then went up to Yuri.

She said, "Yuri, you really are the most talented one here. And… And you're going to help make the event a lot more fun and welcoming. I mean, the cupcakes will probably help a lot too… But you're gonna make the atmosphere special. That'll be really important for the way that people feel during the performances. So… You need to stop being dumb and give yourself a little more credit!"

Yuri was silent at first then spoke softly. "You didn't… really mean that, did you?"

Josuke and Monika were surprised at Natsuki's words. But then Josuke understood what she was trying to do.

_She was trying to sound like Sayori._

Eventually, the club dispersed and Josuke and Natsuki exchanged contact information.

* * *

"… And then she left!" Josuke explained.

Once the club had finished he joined Koichi and Okuyasu at the café and told them what happened at the meeting.

"Hmm… That is strange. Maybe I should talk to her…?" Okuyasu suggested.

"Okuyasu, I don't think she knows you well enough to tell you about her personal issues. Plus, Monika said that it was something that she wouldn't really want to talk to a GUY about."

Koichi grimaced slightly while Okuyasu looked at him, confused.

"So, what are you going to do about her?" Koichi asked.

"I don't know… Maybe I'll go see her tomorrow to talk things out."

"And you're sure that she's not a Stand user?"

"Positive. The only ones who I think could be Stand users are Natsuki and Monika. And one of them is coming over to my house on Sunday."

Okuyasu spat out his drink. "W-WHAT?! YOU'RE HAVING A GIRL COME OVER TO YOUR HOUSE?!"

"Chill, man! We're just going to be baking cupcakes for our presentation at the festival."

"Oh there is no such thing as 'just baking' when you're having a girl over!"

"Wha-What are you suggesting, you idiot? You think that this is a date or something? This is part of our plan! Once I find out if Natsuki is the Stand user or not, I would just have to find out if Monika is."

Koichi thought for a moment then said, "Hey, Josuke, what will you do if you find the user? What if they aren't intentionally trying to hurt anyone? And what if none of them are Stand users?"

Josuke gasped. He had never thought about this thing long-term. He had only joined initially because his childhood friend, Sayori, suggested it. But now he knew that they weren't childhood friends. He still considered her a friend, but none of his close friends like the two at the café with him were in the club.

Josuke chuckled and suggested, "Hey, if you guys come to our presentation and like what we do, would you join the club with me?"

The two others were initially taken aback then smiled and laughed too.

"Yeah, I might even get Yukako to join as well," said Koichi.

"You're gonna have to write some damn good poetry then!" said Okuyasu.

The gang chatted a bit more before they split off to go home.

_Alright. Next objective: how did Natsuki get her bruise?_

**-To Be Continued**


	7. I'm Sorry

Sunday had finally come. Josuke was unable to do much the day before because he had received a lot of work from his classes as well as his mother making him do the chores that he had laid off for several months. But today he was free, and Natsuki was coming over.

To prepare for the possibility of her being a Stand user, Josuke had put away anything in his house that he thought could be used as a possible weapon. She had called him to purchase the ingredients necessary to bake the cupcakes, which took him a while to get the money for from his mother.

But through all of this, he still thought about Sayori. He thought back to what Monika said to him, and he decided that whether or not it was true he should go over to see her. It would be a while before Natsuki would come over, and he had all this free time to kill. He first called her house and received no answer, but he did leave a message: "Hey, it's Josuke. I don't know if you're home or not, but I'm coming over."

Once he had reached Sayori's house, he knocked on the door. No answer. He assumed that it would be fine if he just entered her house just like he remembered. While Josuke knew the truth, he and Sayori were not childhood friends, the message that Rohan wrote using Heaven's Door was still there and made him still think that it could be true.

The house was quiet. Josuke went up to her bedroom and nervously knocked on the door before entering. "Sayori…?"

"Hi…" she answers, sitting on her bed. She is wearing a pink shirt with a yellow skirt.

Josuke sighs in relief as he sits down in the chair at her desk.

There's a minute of silence between the two of them before Sayori breaks the silence. "You haven't come over like this in a long time, have you?"

"Ah… I guess you're right…" Josuke nervously responded, looking around her room.

She giggled softly. "If you came over more often, it wouldn't be such a mess… How come you suddenly wanted to come over today? Aren't you supposed to see Natsuki today?"

"Yeah… How did you know that?"

"Monika told me. It's only natural for her to keep me informed about the festival preparations."

"Ah… Well, what about you? Aren't you going to help her today?"

"Of course! But we're going to do it over the phone. I have some ideas that I'll tell her while she organizes it. We didn't plan to meet up or anything."

"… So, it's just Natsuki and I…?"

"Yep…"

There was even more silence between them. However, Josuke decided to just get straight to the point.

"I just… I just wanted to see how you were. After you left on Friday, I knew something was wrong. Please don't try to hide it from me."

Sayori smiled and shook her head. "That's no good."

"Huh?"

"Why can't it just be like it's always been? This is all my fault. If I didn't get so weak and accidentally express my feelings… If I didn't make that stupid mistake… Then you wouldn't have come here. You wouldn't have been thinking about me right now. But this… is just my punishment, isn't it? I'm getting punished for being so selfi-"

"Sayori," Josuke spoke with a calm and confident tone, making her look at him. "Tell me what's wrong. Tell me what happened. I won't leave until you do."

She gasped silently and then gave an empty smile. "You really put me in a trap. But… you're wrong. Nothing happened to me. I've always been like this. You're just seeing it for the first time."

"Seeing what?"

"Heh… You're just going to make me say it, aren't you? I guess I have no choice. The thing is… I've had really bad depression my whole life. Did you know that?"

Her words hit Josuke like a truck. He was all too familiar with this topic. He had almost no friends until he met Koichi and Okuyasu. Those years of being alone, where no one was able to see his Stand and he didn't even have a clue who his father was, were the most difficult times of his life.

As Sayori described how she felt, Josuke knew that he had felt the same way before. With everything she said, he knew what she was going through. However, he had no idea how to respond. Everyone handles depression differently. In Josuke's case, he cared for people with the occasional aid of Crazy Diamond and beating up anyone who dissed his hair. Neither of those would work for Sayori.

Eventually, he spoke up, his voice wavering, "… Why? Why would you not tell me about this? We're friends. I'll support you and help you no matter what. Even though there might not be much that I could do…"

"You don't understand, Josuke. Why do you think I didn't tell you? Because if I told you, then you would have to waste effort caring about me instead of doing important things. I don't want to be cared about. It's bittersweet, when people try to care about me. It feels nice sometimes, but it also feels like a bat being swung against my head. That's why I wanted so badly for you to make friends with everyone else… Helping everyone be happy together is the best thing for me. But then, I discovered something else, too. Seeing you make friends and get closer with everyone in the club… It feels like a spear going through my heart."

Josuke covered his mouth with his hand.

_What can I say?! What can I do?! How can I help her?_

"So, that's why…" Sayori continued. "That's why I decided the world just wants to torture me. Every path leads to nothing but hurt."

Josuke took his hand away. "… You're right. I don't completely understand. I don't understand your reasoning or your feelings. I've been where you are, once. But please, tell me what I can do to help you. Anything!"

"No, Josuke. There's nothing. Nothing at all. The only thing that could have helped is if everything could be like it always was."

Josuke felt a pit open up in his stomach. He couldn't help but feel about this whole situation. If what Okuyasu and Koichi said about what Rohan did was true, then he knew that the only thing different in her life up to this point was Josuke.

Tears began to streak down Sayori's face. "Now you know what a horrible person I am. I made you join the literature club because I was selfish, and I was punished by my heart hurting in a way that I couldn't understand. And now I made you hurt, too. I'm just weak and selfish. That's a-"

She was cut off as Josuke came up to her and gave her a hug. His large frame made her feel safer in his arms. She began to sniffle while she buried her face into his chest, not returning the hug.

"Sayori," he started. "I don't care if you feel selfish. I'm glad that you made me join the club. And please don't underestimate how much I care about you."

"No… Please don't do this to me… Josuke… I…"

_I know this is pretty inappropriate, but I wonder if Heaven's Door might be able to help her. She doesn't appear to be listening to anything I am saying._

As she tried to speak between her sobs, Josuke said, "If you wish to call yourself selfish, then I'm selfish too. I'll figure out how I can help you, no matter what. If you need me to do something, then you better tell me. Okay?"

Quietly sobbing, she responded, "I don't know. I don't know… I don't know." She finally put her arms around him. "I don't know anything. It's all really scary. I don't understand any of my feelings, Josuke… The only time I'm not feeling nothing is when I'm feeling pain. But… Your hugs are so warm… and that's really scary too…"

She lets go of him as he follows moments after. He glanced up at her clock to see that Natsuki would almost be at his house. He then looked at her. "Then let me help you fight away this pain… together."

They sat in silence for a minute until Josuke broke it once again. "The festival is tomorrow."

Sayori answered nervously, "Y-Yeah…"

"It'll be fun."

"Right…"

"How would you like to hang out with me then?"

"U-um… Ah-"

"I want to. Please."

"I… I think that would be nice then…"

They both wiped their eyes, Sayori because she had just opened up to him, and Josuke because he couldn't stand seeing a friend of his hurt in a way he couldn't fix.

He regretted saying yes to having someone come over today. He wished that he could stay with Sayori for the rest of the day. Her feelings were more important than finding out a potential Stand user that might not even be a threat.

"Perhaps I should cancel-"

"N-No! Please don't… If you did that… then I really wouldn't forgive you."

"Well… Would you at least like to come over and help out? It'd be fun."

She surprisingly shook her head. "I'm sorry. That probably wouldn't be very good for me today. You understand, right?"

Josuke looked disappointed, but nodded. "Right… Well, I'll see you later then…?"

"… Yeah. I look forward to it."

He said goodbye to Sayori as he left her house.

* * *

Josuke felt a bit uneasy as he walked home. He didn't even acknowledge the odd-looking stone as he passed it.

_Hopefully Sayori is right, and we are going to have a great time tomorrow. But now- Wait a minute. I have to bake cupcakes!_ He clutched his head in frustration. _I have no idea how to bake! I only chose Natsuki because I still need to know about her bruise. And now Yuri's all sad and…_

These thoughts continued on in Josuke's head as he made his way home to find that Natsuki was already waiting outside.

"There you are! I was wondering why no one was answering." Natsuki shouted at him.

"Ah, sorry! I was just checking up on Sayori," he replied.

A look of concern crossed her face. "Oh. How is she?"

"… She's alright."

_I probably shouldn't talk to her about it without Sayori's consent._

"Anyway, come on in!"

Josuke opened his door and led Natsuki inside. They took off their shoes and made their way to the kitchen. He then noticed that Natsuki was wearing a white shirt and a pink skirt. Her cute outfit completely contrasted to the school uniform that she normally wore.

"I'm guessing this is all baking supplies?" asked Josuke.

"Well, duh! I didn't want to come her to find out that your kitchen isn't well equipped for the job," she answered, smiling. "You bought everything I asked, right?"

"Y-Yeah. It took me a while to get the cash to do it."

"Well, whatever. At least I could count on you to do it."

"Right… Well, let's get started, shall we?"

The two of them started getting out the stuff that Natsuki had brought. Josuke commented on how heavy all of the stuff was and that he was impressed. She took it well, only insulting him once. And then she began telling him what to do.

In just half an hour, the whole kitchen is a mess with spoons, dirty bowls and ingredients strewn about every countertop. They had to use the mixer several times since it wasn't big enough to do it all at once. Natsuki was practically micro-managing Josuke's movements to make sure he doesn't mess it up.

"Hey, where's the food coloring?" she asked.

"I think it's still in the- Yep, it's in the bag next to the table. What for?" Josuke said.

"I'm going to color the batter! Each tray is going to be a different color. It's so people can pick their favorite color without picking a different flavor."

"Ooh, cool! Are we going to do something with the icing?"

"Do you want to?"

"What? You're asking me? Ah… I don't really have a preference, so…"

"Come on. You gotta put some heart into this! Can't you at least try to have fun?"

"I am having fun! I guess we shouldn't because that would just be more work for us and more chaos for the one choosing the cupcake."

Natsuki began to separate the batter into several separate bowls. She explained how you don't have to follow instructions to bake and that you get to have fun by changing up the presentation. All this time, Josuke was having to use a whisk and a bowl to mix the icing. She yelled at him that it was still lumpy so he sped things up a bit by using Crazy Diamond for a moment. However, that ended up with the icing spraying into his face. She laughed at him for being completely covered.

Josuke tastes some of the icing on his face. "Hey, this is pretty good!"

"Of course it's good," Natsuki began. "I have been helping you!"

He rolled his eyes as they both continued to work. Once the last tray of batter was in the oven, they both sighed in relief. It would be about another fifteen minutes before one of the trays would be ready to ice. Josuke looked over at Natsuki, and his face fell as he saw what looked like another bruise on her shoulder.

Remembering why he had invited her over in the first place, he said, "H-Hey… Natsuki…?"

She looked up at him. "Yeah?"

"I… I just wanted to ask… Um… What's that?" He pointed at the bruise which was visible through her white shirt.

She stiffened up when she saw what he was pointing at. "O-Oh… Th-This? It's just a birthmark. That's all."

"Natsuki…"

"Why are you so persistent about that? I thought you were over it by now!"

"I was just wondering if you were okay."

"Well, of course I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Are you su-?"

"I'M FINE, JOSUKE! It's not like I did this myself, or I got it at home, or my father was drunk last night, or…" Natsuki began to trail off as tears began to run down her face.

Josuke looked at her, horrified at what he heard and assumed as he pieced it together.

_The bruise wasn't from the Arrow… Could it have been…?_

She was kneeling on the floor at this point with her hand covering her mouth. Josuke kneeled down and put his hand on her back, but it was quickly swatted away.

"Don't touch me!" she screamed. "If he… If he finds out I… I told you… J-Just don't tell anyone!"

Without saying a word, Josuke activated his Stand as it reached out and touched her, repairing any external and internal damage. Natsuki had no idea why, but the bruises that had bothered her for quite a while suddenly stopped hurting.

"Natsuki… I… I'm so sorry."

"Just shut up! Now I'm going to be in huge trouble. I probably won't even-"

"Hold it, hold it! I'm not going to say anything, okay?" Josuke told her. "… Why don't we sit down for a minute?"

Still sniffling a bit, she slowly stood up and nodded. He led her over to the couch in the room next to the kitchen. She buried her face in her hands while she tried to calm herself. Josuke tried to comfort her. He slowly put his hand on her back. Initially, she flinched, but then she didn't seem to mind as he began to gently rub her back.

_If that's true… About her father… I don't want that sort of thing to happen to her. Natsuki is my friend… Maybe I can help her…_

After a while, the timer for the oven went off. Natsuki had calmed down quite a bit and stood up to retrieve the cupcakes.

Josuke walked next to her as she went. "… You feeling better?"

She remained silent at first but then whispered, "Yeah… Thanks…"

The two of them silently decorated the cupcakes after Josuke had suggested that they use the icing to write a different word on each cupcake. The cupcakes looked and smelled amazing. It was taking a lot of energy out of Josuke for him to decorate the cupcakes and not eat any of them.

Some time passed and they were finally finished.

"They really turned out well, didn't they?" Natsuki said, a light smile on her face as they admired their work.

"Yeah, they did," Josuke replied. He then turned to look at her. "Hey, I'm sorry for earlier. I thought you were hurt by… someone else…"

She stared at the cupcakes for a moment before answering, "I-It's fine… You can bring the cupcakes to school tomorrow, right?"

"Sure. Of course."

"If you get Sayori to help you, you guys would be able to do it in one trip."

"… Y-Yeah, I can do that."

Natsuki then packed up her things and looked at him. "Please… Please don't tell anyone about that… or he'll… kill me…"

_Over my dead body. You mess with my friend, you mess with me._

"I won't…"

The two of them walked out of Josuke's house. The day was almost over already.

Before heading off, Natsuki turned around and hugged Josuke. "Thank you…" she muttered. "I don't know what exactly you did… but that was you on Wednesday, wasn't it? I feel the same as I did then: no more pain. But… Thank you…"

He smiled lightly and gently hugged back. "O-Of course. And if you ever need somewhere safe to go… you could always come here…"

She broke the hug and took a step back. "I'd like that… Huh? Sayori?"

Josuke turned around to see Sayori standing there.

"Ah… H-Hi, Josuke," Sayori said nervously.

"Sayori-" he said.

"I-It's alright. I just stopped by to say hi."

"W-Well, I'm already on my way out so…" Natsuki trailed off.

"Aw, really? That's too bad."

"Yeah well, I'll see you at the festival tomorrow… Bye." And with that, Natsuki headed off, Josuke and Sayori waving goodbye.

He then turned around to face the girl he had spoken to earlier that day. "Sayori, I thought you didn't want to come over today."

She nervously giggled, "Well, I tried staying in my room, but my imagination was being really mean to me. So, I had to come and see it for myself."

Josuke gulped. "See what? What do you mean?"

"You know… How much fun you were having with Natsuki, and how close you got to her."

_Oh no… She thinks… that we… Great._

"It makes me really happy that you've made such good friends. That's all that matters to me." Tears began to fall down Sayori's face. "That's all that matters to me! Why am I feeling this way, Josuke? I'm supposed to be happy for you. Why does it feel like my heart is splitting in half? It hurts so much… Everything hurts so much…"

At this point, Josuke was beginning to hurt from seeing his friend hurt this way. He felt powerless. He was always able to fix people, but with her it wouldn't be that easy.

"This would be so much better if I could just disappear!"

Josuke snapped. "Sayori! Don't you dare say that!"

"It's true, Josuke! If I wasn't here, then you wouldn't have to waste your sympathy on me! You wouldn't have to put up with me being selfish! Monika was right… I should just…"

"… Monika? What did she say? Right about what?!"

She didn't respond.

"Sayori… What I said before is true. I'll always be here to help you. And if something happened to you, then I-" He felt a lump form in his throat. "It… It just makes me happy to see you. I want to be by your side whenever you feel pain. I want to be there to help you through this."

She looked away as Josuke placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm scared, Josuke. I'm really scared…"

_I'm scared too…_

"What are you scared of?"

"I'm scared that… that I might like you more than you like me…"

_Wait, what?_

"Sayori…?"

"It's true, isn't it? I was weak and started to like you too much… I did this to myself. Josuke… I like you so much that I want to die!"

_Holy shit…_

"NO! Please, never say that again! I can't lose you! I can't lose another friend!"

Sayori looked up at him, slightly confused.

Josuke ran a hand through his hair, basically ruining it. "… Sayori, I care about you. You're my best friend. We've been that since we could remember. I just… I just can't imagine a life of happiness and joy without you. I just want you to live a happy life."

"I… I see…" She forced a smile through an incredibly pained expression. "Is this what it feels like… to get stabbed in the chest? I should write a poem about this…"

Tears were beginning to form in Josuke's eyes.

_Did I say something wrong…?_

"Sayori-"

"It's okay. This is just my… punishment… remember… for being so selfish… So please… Please don't worry about these stupid feelings. I knew this whole time there was no happiness down that path. That's why I came here. Just so I could get the answer I needed to hear…"

Her smile finally broke. She then turned around, fell to her knees and let out a heart wrenching scream. Josuke seemed to feel almost every emotion, but joy, in that moment. She then looked over her shoulder and flashed him one more weak smile before running off.

"Sayori!" he called out after her, but it was too late.

He felt awful. He was feeling even worse than when he had two poles sticking through his body. This wasn't something that could be fixed with a Stand ability. This wasn't something that could be stopped with a barrage of punches.

Eventually, Josuke turned around and went inside his house. He felt so exhausted that he decided to skip dinner. He slowly began to make his way to-

"DORA!"

The part of Josuke that was frustrated had summoned Crazy Diamond to punch through a wall. He repaired it before slowly continuing his trek to his bedroom.

_I'll see Sayori tomorrow… We can talk some more then…_

He entered his room and fell face-first on his bed.

_Why did this happen?_

* * *

It's the day of the festival. Josuke had gotten up early since his mother reminded him so. She had also reminded him that he was supposed to bring the cupcakes that he and Natsuki had made the day before. He carried the trays of cupcakes to school, handling them with care as he went through a cross walk and went up the stairs to go to the club's usual meeting place.

"Josuke!" Monika greeted him as he entered the room. "You're the first one here. Thanks for being early!"

"I am? Heh… I thought that at least Yuri would be here by now," Josuke commented.

Monika was placing the pamphlets she and Sayori had made at each desk in the classroom. "I'm surprised you didn't bring Sayori with you."

"Yeah… I guess she must have overslept or something."

_Her and Okuyasu both._

Josuke had then remembered about what happened the day before. He remembered about how badly Sayori was feeling and that Natsuki got her bruise from…

Monika laughed lightly. "You should take a little responsibility for her, Josuke! I mean, especially after what happened yesterday… You kind of left her hanging this morning, you know?"

He paused. "Hold on, Monika, how do you know about that?"

"Well, I'm the club president after all."

"But-"

_Did Sayori tell Monika what happened that quickly?_

"Uh… I don't think you know the whole story…"

"Don't worry. I probably know a lot more than you think."

Josuke blinked and looked at her. Monika was being as friendly as normal, but for some reason he felt a chill down his spine just then.

"Hey, do you want to check out the pamphlets?" Monika asked as she held one out to Josuke.

"A-Alright, sure." He took it from her and began to look it over. "Yeah, this'll definitely make people want to join the club!"

"Yeah, I thought so too."

Josuke flipped through a few pages. He read everyone's poems, but his stomach sank when he saw that Sayori's poem mainly consisted of the phrase, 'Get out of my head' numerous times.

"Josuke, are you alright?" Monika asked.

"Uh… I've changed my mind! I'm going to get Sayori!" he exclaimed as he ran out of the classroom.

He heard Monika call out to him as he ran, "Don't strain yourself!"

_What the hell, man?! Why would you just leave Sayori like that after what happened yesterday?!_

Josuke ran all the way to Sayori's house and knocked on her door. He didn't expect her to answer, so he carefully entered her house like he did yesterday. "Sayori!"

_Dang, is she a heavy sleeper…?_

He approached the door to her room and knocked. "Sayori? It's the festival today. You said that we'll hang out together there…"

No response. Josuke didn't want to enter the room like that because it would be a breach of privacy. However, she left him no choice. He gently opened the door.

"Sayo-"

Josuke screamed at the sight before him. There was Sayori… hanging with a noose around her neck.

He immediately rushed into action. "CRAZY DIAMOND!"

"DORA!"

His Stand rushed forward and lifted up her body while using its ability. Josuke quickly began untying the rope around her neck. Once he was done, Crazy Diamond gently set her down on the bed and focused its ability on her neck.

"C-C'mon S-Sayori…! S-Stay with me!" Josuke panicked.

He inspected her body and found that it was completely healed. He checked her pulse…

_... Nothing_

His eyes began to water as he covered his mouth with his hand.

_Too late. I was too late. Just like with Gramps, I was… too… late…_

He sat down on the floor, trying to take this all in.

_Not another. First Shigechi, now Sayori…_

Josuke thought back to what happened.

_It couldn't have just been me… But then who-? … Monika._

Monika.

He thought back to what Sayori said yesterday: _'Monika was right. I should just…'_ And then what Monika said today: _'You kind of left her hanging this morning…'_

_Monika. She must have…_

He looked back at Sayori.

_She must have told Sayori to kill herself._

Josuke gritted his teeth and curled his hand into fist.

_That is NOT okay!_

He then noticed something about Sayori. His heart sank and a tear rolled down his face when he saw what he saw.

_Her fingertips are bloody… She must have tried to get out of it… She didn't want to die._

Josuke was angry, the angriest he had ever been. He immediately stood and went for the door before looking at Sayori's lifeless body one more time.

His vision became blurry. "I'm sorry… Sayori…"

He then bolted out the door and down the street. He was running even faster than he was on his was there. Nothing was able to stop him, not even the crosswalk or the crowds of people in his way. It began to rain, but it did not slow him down.

He was completely blinded by rage. The whole world could have said that his hair looked bad and it wouldn't even compare to what he was feeling now.

_Stand user or not, she is going to pay!_

His friend was dead, and it's Monika's fault.

_THAT IS UNFORGIVABLE!_

Josuke had finally made it to the school, pushing his way through to get to the classroom.

No one else was in there yet, it was just Monika. She then noticed he arrived and seemed surprised. "J-Josuke! You're back!"

He wasted no time. "CRAZY DIAMOND!"

"DORARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARA!"

**-To Be Continued**


	8. Déjà Vu

Rohan was on his way to buy groceries. The ground was still wet from the storm yesterday. This gave him an idea that he could use in his next work. He was getting ready to continue rewriting the work he had lost in the fire. At the rate he was able to produce manga, half of a years' work was about several volume's worth.

He heard a voice call out behind him, "Hey! Rohan!"

He turned around to see who the voice belonged to.

_Josuke…_

Josuke was jogging up to walk beside him like they had the week before. "What's up? You going to write some more manga?"

Rohan rolled his eyes. "Of course I am. I won't be able to get back what I lost by doing nothing."

Josuke chuckled nervously, "R-Right… Look, I'm really sorry about that."

"It's fine, it's fine," Rohan then thought for a moment, noticing something was off. "Is Okuyasu late again?"

Josuke blinked then answered, "Oh, yeah he is. He was late yesterday as well. I'm sure he's alright, though."

Rohan then thought about something. He thought about what he did to Josuke last week, to him and that girl.

He giggled maniacally before he asked, "Say, where's Sayori? Is she late as well?"

Josuke looked confused. "… Uh… Who?"

Now Rohan looked intrigued. "You know, your childhood friend…?"

"Um… I don't have any childhood friends that I'm still in touch with."

"Hold on, Josuke. Do you at least know who Sayori is?"

"I… can't say that I've heard of that name before. How come?"

Rohan began to feel a bit uneasy.

_How does he not know her? I wrote in him that he and Sayori were childhood friends. Why does he seem to have no idea who she is? Maybe I should take a look…_

"Hey, Josuke. I just need to check something," he said, bringing out Heaven's Door.

"Don't even think about it, Rohan! You're not going to turn me into a book," Josuke said, summoning Crazy Diamond in turn.

They stood facing each other for a moment, staring down the other with their Stands behind them. After a while, Rohan retracted his Stand, knowing all too well that he was no match for Crazy Diamond's power.

"Fine. You win, Higashikata. Although I would like to speak with you later, seeing as you're about to be late."

Josuke's Stand vanished as he looked confused. "What do you mean 'I'm going to be late'?"

The school bell immediately rang as the high schooler began to look panicked.

"Oh, I am. Whatever. See ya, Rohan!" he yelled while running towards the school.

Rohan waved goodbye as Josuke ran ahead. Once he was out of sight, he began to think.

_Did something happen to Josuke? Or maybe to Sayori? Or both?! … Could Josuke have encountered a Stand user in his club? Perhaps I should look into it…_

* * *

"Hey, Josuke!" Koichi greeted his friend once lunch began. "You feeling okay? You didn't show up to class yesterday."

Okuyasu was behind him. "Yeah… Had I known you'd be at school today, I would've waited to walk to school with you. You should have answered our calls."

Josuke rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry, guys. I just didn't feel well yesterday. I'm much better now, thanks."

"So… How was your date on Sunday?" Okuyasu said with a smug grin, half joking.

"Um… What? Did I have a date?"

Okuyasu and Koichi looked at each other, confused.

The latter began to speak, "Josuke, didn't you have one of the girls in your club over at your house Sunday?"

"Heh, I get it. You guys are trying to mess with me! Talking about having a girl over… my club… Good one. You had me going for a minute!"

Okuyasu spoke up, "Hey, hey! We're not messing with you! We were talking about th-"

"Yep! You got us!" Koichi interrupted nervously.

"Eh? What do you mea- Oof!" Okuyasu was suddenly jabbed in the stomach by Koichi's elbow.

As Okuyasu flinched and leaned over slightly, Koichi whispered in his ear, "Let's just play this off like it's nothing. He might have been affected by a Stand."

Okuyasu's eyes widened as he looked over at Josuke, who was rummaging around in his bag.

"We'll talk later about it at the café. I'll also call Rohan. He can probably help us."

Okuyasu grumbled then stood up. "Yeah! We got you good, Josuke! Haha!"

Their lunch went on as normal. Neither one of Josuke's friends mentioned anything about their plan for the literature club. They didn't want to bring it up since it seemed like Josuke didn't know anything about it, and they did not want to have a huge explanation and argument with him when they had a huge test after lunch. Discussing it after school would be much simpler.

* * *

School had ended. Josuke was sitting at his desk while putting away his things. For some reason, he had a strange thought flash through his mind.

_Clubs..._

He was suddenly lost in his thoughts, thinking how clubs made its way into his head.

Josuke then heard a familiar voice say his name and lay a hand on his desk. "Josuke…"

He slowly began to look at the person, his eyes trailing from the hand to the face. He felt a chill run down his spine as he noticed the purple suit, skull patterned tie, golden wavy hair and evil smirk.

"WHAT?! YOSHIKAGE KIRA?!" Josuke screamed as Crazy Diamond wordlessly appeared.

He felt a mix of fear and rage as the most evil man he had ever known, presumed dead, was standing before him. He was about to attack before he blinked and saw, in Kira's presence, was a girl with long brown hair and large white bow. She looked incredibly frightened.

Josuke's eyes widened as he saw the girl, who he knew was Monika from the previous year. His Stand disappeared as he slightly bowed in front of her.

"I-I'm sorry, Monika! I thought… I mean, you just gave me a shock."

Monika raised a hand to her chest and smiled nervously. "It's fine. I wasn't really expecting to see you here. I saw that you were alone, and… well, I thought it had been a while since we last spoke."

"Yeah, it has… Sorry for being rude, but is that all?"

"… Oh. Well, I just came here to get some supplies to use for my club. Do you know if there's any construction paper in here?"

"I'm not sure. It'd probably be in the back closet, if at all. Well, I'm going home! Have a nice day!" Josuke waved at her as he began to leave the classroom.

"WAIT!" she yelled, making him stop and look at her. Monika quickly calmed herself and smiled sweetly before continuing. "I was actually hoping if you would take a look at my club."

"Your club? You started one?"

"Yeah! I started a Literature Club!"

_Literature…? That sounds more like something up Rohan's alley. I can't remember that last time I enjoyed reading a book. Maybe it would be fun if I had a few friends in it too._

"Well… How many members do you have?"

"It's kind of embarrassing, but we only have three members so far. It's pretty hard to find new members for something that sounds so boring…"

Monika then went on to explain how literature isn't boring and that it can be many different types of things. She continued to talk about how one club member keeps their manga collection in the back of the room. All of this felt very similar to Josuke, almost like he already knew this.

"So… How about it?" Monika asked, bringing him back to reality.

"Um…"

_I don't know… It's not like I have anything better to do. I mean, come on! It's just a club! There's no reason that I wouldn't be able to leave the club if I didn't like it._

"… Sure."

She immediately took him across the school and up the stairs to the room where her club was being held.

So full of energy, she swung open the classroom door and announced, "I'm back! And I brought a guest with me!"

A girl with long purple hair nervously said, "A-A guest…?"

"Seriously? You brought a boy?" a girl with short pink hair asked in disbelief. "Way to kill the atmosphere."

These two girls seemed pretty familiar to Josuke. He thought that he might have met them last year, but that just didn't feel right.

"Don't be mean, Natsuki. But anyway, welcome to the club, Josuke!" Monika said smiling.

"So let me guess, you're Monika's boyfriend, right?" the girl named Natsuki said with a sour attitude.

"Huh?" Josuke's eyes widened.

Monika nervously giggled. "… Well, this is Natsuki," she said gesturing to the girl with pink hair. "And this is Yuri, the Vice President."

The girl with purple hair nervously spoke. "I-It's nice to meet you…"

"Yeah… Nice to meet both of you."

_What is it about these girls? Have I met them somewhere else before? And when? How?_

Josuke felt like he was having déjà vu. He felt certain that he had done something similar to this somewhere before. They formed the desks into a table, got tea just began to discuss about things. Monika explained how it was difficult to get new members in ways other than the club festival.

The club festival was scheduled for yesterday, but it was canceled because it had rained pretty hard. Most of the clubs had a booth set up outside for the festival so the school eventually decided to reschedule it for next week.

They each discussed their reading habits and why they enjoy what they do. They went on about why Yuri enjoying horror suits her personality, the fact that Natsuki has written several poems about cute things, and then Monika had the idea that they should all write poems and share them with each other the next day.

Yuri agreed with Monika and asked Josuke for his opinion on the matter. However, he had another thing that he just realized.

"Wait a minute! I never said that I would definitely join this club! I just said to Monika that I would at least look at the club and…" he trailed off, thinking about what this poetry writing would do to his already dwindling spare time.

All three girls stared back at him with dejected eyes.

"B-But…" Monika almost whispered, appearing to be taking it the worst.

"I'm sorry, I thought…" Yuri muttered, looking away.

Natsuki began to pout. The girls all glanced at each other and turned to Monika.

She began to speak. "I… guess I need to tell you the truth, Josuke. The thing is… we don't have enough members yet to form an official club. We need four… and I've been trying really, really hard to find new members. And if we don't find one more before the festival…"

_Great. I see what she's doing. She making me feel bad for not joining the club. Well, guess what Monika! It's working…_

"You know, I've decided! I'll join the Literature Club," said Josuke.

Their eyes lit up as he spoke.

"Oh my goodness, really?" Monika asked. "Do you really mean that, Josuke?"

"Yeah… It'll be fun, right?"

Yuri sighed in relief. "You really did scare me for a moment…"

Natsuki crossed her arms and huffed. "I mean, if you really just left after all this, I would be super pissed."

Monika smiled sweetly. "Josuke, I'm so happy… We can become an official club now! Thank you! I'll do everything I can to give you a great time, okay?"

And with that, Monika brought the meeting to a close, reminding them of their assignment. Josuke left the club with a new spring in his step.

_I have to admit, I did have some fun in the club. But now… I've got to write a poem… Hey! I might have written one for a Language Arts assignment. I could probably just share that one, and spend the rest of the day how I like it._

He was making his way home as he passed an odd-looking stone.

"See ya, Ange-" Josuke stopped as he saw what looked like a piece of paper being weighed down by the stone. "What's this you got here?"

He manifested his Stand and used it to tip the rock and get the paper without tearing it. Before and while he set it down, a muffled scream could be heard coming from the rock. He began to read what it said.

* * *

I can't convince myself to go to therapy when I'm the happiest I've ever been.

I'd rather keep this up until I blow my cover and someone takes me to the emergency room.

* * *

Josuke was horrified at the message he saw. The handwriting seemed familiar, but he had no idea whose it was. He then turned the page over and saw a poem titled _Arrows_.

_What the hell? Why does this have my name on it?_

Josuke noticed that his name was written in the top left corner of the poem. It seemed real, it was his handwriting.

_Did I write this…?_ His eyes widened as his head darted around in all directions.

_Or could this be a Stand ability?_

Josuke made his way home and cast a glance towards the school one last time before going inside.

**-To Be Continued**


	9. Plan B

Rohan was at the cemetery on the outskirts of Morioh. He went there to pay his respects to Reimi since he was no longer able to speak with her in Ghost Girl's Alley. He was about to leave, but then he noticed the people who had come to a burial before he got there began to disperse. Interested, Rohan decided to take a closer look at the headstone and pay his respects to the recently departed. As he slowly approached it, he began to read the name.

"…Sayo-!" Rohan gasped as he read it aloud.

_Sayori…?! This can't be the same one…_

He then read the dates underneath the name. He clenched his hand into a fist and covered his mouth. _…_

_She was about Josuke's age. And she died… yesterday?!_

He still hoped that it was a different Sayori, but his fears were confirmed when he noticed the red bow he had seen her wear placed next to the headstone.

_Josuke said that he didn't even know her… If this happened only yesterday, how could he forget? … I fear I was right… This could be the work of an enemy Stand._

* * *

"So, tell me why we're going to tell Rohan about this?" Okuyasu asked. "He's the one that got us into this mess in the first place!"

He and Koichi were sitting at the café after school again. They didn't even have to order anything because the staff knew that they always wanted the same thing. Okuyasu was secretly hoping they would receive a discount for being regulars.

"I want to get him involved because he's our friend," Koichi began. "He's one of the only adult Stand users that we know, besides Jotaro and Joseph. But we can't call Jotaro because he's on a research trip, not to mention there would be no reason for him to come all this way for a presumed Stand user in a high school literature club."

"Wait. Didn't he come to Morioh because there was a Stand user? What makes this any different than that?"

"Well… I think it's because he had evidence about a Stand, and the user was a serial killer."

Okuyasu was about to argue further, but he slumped back in his seat and grumbled, "… Oh."

The two of them waited patiently for the manga artist to arrive. Koichi had called Rohan after school and told him to meet them at the café. He told him that it was important and regarding Josuke. Rohan agreed after he heard that last part since he was planning on discussing the same thing with them. After some time, he had finally arrived, joining the two at their table.

"So, what's up with Josuke?" Rohan asked, deciding to skip the formalities.

The two were silent for a moment before Koichi spoke up. "W-Well… You know how Josuke had joined the literature club at school?"

"Yeah…?"

"We met up with him every day after his club meeting and he told us about some strange things that happened there."

Rohan raised an eyebrow. "Strange how?"

Okuyasu began to speak. "Well, he said that he saw a book he was given change into that guy that he turned into a book. But when he looked back, it was just a normal book."

"… What? So, what, he was hallucinating? Knowing him he probably didn't get enough sleep…"

Koichi spoke up, "No, Rohan! I believe what Josuke said. There was more, too! He also noticed a bruise on the back of someone's neck which he thought could be from the Arrow. And the other club members were acting really suspicious, by saying strange things and being somewhat vague."

"Hmm… Was this recent? What was the last thing you guys talked about, and when?"

"Well, he had mentioned that he was going to have the girl with the bruise go over to his house on Sunday to work on something for the festival yesterday. The festival was canceled because of the storm and rescheduled for next week, but Josuke didn't even mention it today. He didn't show up to school yesterday."

"Ah…" Rohan rested his head on his hand, trying to put it all together. "And… What about Sayori?"

"Um… I'm not entirely sure what happened, but Josuke said that Sayori was feeling down and left the club early to go home."

Rohan slightly grimaced, thinking about what could have happened to her. "Speaking of Josuke, I saw him today and asked about Sayori."

"Let me guess, he had no idea who she was," Okuyasu stated.

Rohan nodded.

"Hey-Hey, hang on a minute! Did you do something to him with Heaven's Door again?!"

"No, Okuyasu. I didn't. Although, I did try to use it to see what happened to what I wrote, but I wasn't able to."

Koichi then said, "Oh, yeah. Rohan, when you told us what you did, we told Josuke the truth about him and Sayori."

Rohan had a look of confusion mixed with interest. "… Huh… And he believed you?"

"Well… yeah."

"… Alright then. Also… I found out some… news about Sayori."

Okuyasu and Koichi perked up.

"R-Really? Do you know what happened to her?" the former asked. "I didn't see her at school for the last two days."

"She's dead."

The high schoolers' eyes widened in shock. Koichi began to clutch his head in disbelief while Okuyasu stared at nothing.

"How…?" Okuyasu muttered.

He was the only one of them who was personally acquainted with her, even if it was just for a few days. He had also developed a crush on her, as he did with almost any cute girl.

Rohan closed his eyes. "… I'm not sure. All I know for sure is that I saw her grave at the cemetery and that she died yesterday…" He grimaced before he continued, "Although… Based on what you just told me about her feeling down… I believe she might have…"

Rohan trailed off, hoping they understood where he was going. Koichi gasped, covering his mouth with his hand, once he pieced it together.

Suddenly, Okuyasu stood up. "I… I think I'll go home…"

Koichi was surprised and said, "What? But, Okuyasu, we haven't said what we're going t-"

"I said, I'm going home!" Okuyasu cut him off.

He then turned around and walked off.

Now the silver-haired high schooler was left alone with the manga artist at the café table. Neither of them spoke for a minute, thinking about the girl they just spoke of. Koichi wasn't expecting to hear something like this. While he had never met Sayori, he couldn't help to feel guilty when he knew the she was close to Josuke and that he had involved her in their plan. Rohan also felt responsible since it was his own actions that got her involved with them.

"Are… Are you sure, Rohan?" Koichi asked.

Rohan nodded. "The fact that she is… dead, I am confident with. However, I cannot say for sure about how she died. Also…" He looked around, making sure no one else was listening, before he whispered, "This might be caused by an enemy Stand."

"Y-Yeah… I know. It must be one of the girls in the club. But based on what Josuke told us last week, we've narrowed it down to being either Natsuki or Monika."

"Right… I have no idea who they are, and how do you think they could be?"

"Well, Natsuki is the one with the bruise possibly from the Arrow, but Josuke never told us what happened when he had her over. So I think it's safe to assume that she is a Stand user, just in case."

"Hmm… And what about this 'Monika?'"

Koichi blinked and scratched his head. "Um… Honestly, we don't know all that much about her. I mean, I know that she's a popular girl in school. She's pretty athletic, intelligent- Oh! And she's the President of the Literature Club."

"I see… So there are four- Ugh… Three members in the club, right?"

"No, there one more girl named-"

"Koichi!" a feminine voice called out.

The two turned to see who was the source of the voice and saw Yukako running up to them.

"Koichi! There you are," she said sweetly. "WHY HAVE YOU NOT BEEN SPENDING TIME WITH ME?! DO YOU NOT LOVE ME?!"

Any ounce of sweetness was suddenly replaced by anger as her hair began to rise and expand.

"C-Calm down, Yukako! I've-I've just been working on something big with my friends!" Koichi exclaimed, trying to calm her down.

"YOU!" she yelled, pointing at Rohan. "YOU'RE TRYING TO STEAL AWAY MY KOICHI BECAUSE YOU'RE JEALOUS OF HOW CLOSE WE ARE!"

In almost a blink of an eye, Rohan used Heaven's Door on Yukako to turn her into a book and wrote ' **Calm down** '. Her hair immediately returned to normal as her mood changed from rage to deadpan.

"Rohan! How-" Koichi began to yell before he realized how effective that was. He liked her, but she was so quick to judge that he found it repetitive and annoying. "So, what brings you here?"

"Why haven't you spent time with me?" Yukako whined.

Koichi was surprised to see her act this way, but he found it endearing. "Well… I'm sorry about that. I've just been trying to figure something out at school."

"Oh? You're talking about the Literature Club, right?"

Rohan and Koichi looked at her as she said that so calmly. "H-How did you know that…?"

"I've noticed a friend of mine act pretty strangely. She said that Josuke had joined the club last week, isn't that right?"

"Uh… Yeah. Who's your friend?"

"Her name's Yuri."

Koichi indicated to Rohan that she was the other club member before asking, "… And how is she acting strangely?"

"Well, she didn't show up to school yesterday. She also didn't even mention anything about the festival's cancelation. Yuri was working on making a bunch of banners for their club's performance and seemed pretty excited about it."

"Hmm… So it affected her too?" Rohan asked.

"Uh… 'Too'?" she repeated, confused.

Koichi answered, "Today, Josuke didn't even mention anything about the club. He also claimed that he didn't know Sayori… who we learned is… dead."

Yukako looked concerned and uneasy. She had heard Yuri mention a Sayori, but she hadn't said anything about her today.

"… Oh my goodness… So you think that one of them is a Stand user?"

They nodded.

"Perhaps you may be able to help us. You could talk to your friend and ask her if she herself has noticed anything strange. If she says no, we might be able to assume that she is the one behind all of this," Rohan suggested.

She shook her head. "No, she's not a Stand user. If anything, she was affected as well by whatever it is that's doing it. But yeah, I'll ask her."

Koichi invited Yukako to sit down as they continued to discuss the situation for a while. Koichi filled them in on what he already knew, telling them to ask Okuyasu about anything he didn't know the answer to. Eventually, Rohan began to speak.

"So, we've basically confirmed the possibility of a Stand user in the club, right?" They nodded. "But what of the Stand itself? What does it do? How does it work? What are its weaknesses?"

There was an air of silence between them all before Koichi answered, "Well, since Josuke and Yuri appeared to forget about some things, maybe to ability does that: makes people forget things."

Rohan said, "Yes, that does sound convincing. However, I am able to do that by using Heaven's Door, and it does more than just make people forget things. Like my Stand, this Stand may be capable of doing the same thing, but its method would be different. For example, it could steal people's memories and store them in some fashion."

Yukako and Koichi looked at each other, thinking about what he said.

"This is probably something we should discuss with Okuyasu," said the latter. "Plus, I don't think that it would be wise to assume a Stand's ability before a possible fight."

They all nodded in agreement.

"Well then… I believe that we should probably meet up another time, seeing as there is nothing more to discuss," Rohan said. He then stood up and grabbed his bag. "How about same time tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I'll check with Okuyasu and Josuke, but that works with me," Koichi answered.

Yukako said that it was okay with her as well and they all went their separate ways.

As Rohan left he thought to himself.

_I can't believe that I'm this mess. Just when I thought I could get back to writing manga, I get dragged into some problem by… Josuke…_

**-To Be Continued**


	10. What is this Stand?

Another school day has passed. After Josuke told his friends that he had joined the Literature Club, they told him to meet them at the café after his meeting. After they said goodbye, he made his way over to the clubroom.

"Hi again, Josuke!" Monika greeted him. "Glad to see you didn't run away on us. Hahaha!"

"Of course not," said Josuke. He was the last one so everyone was just hanging out. _Man, she's really cute… What?_

"Thanks for keeping your promise, Josuke," Yuri began. "I hope this isn't too overwhelming of a commitment for you. Making you dive headfirst into literature when you're not accustomed to it…"

Natsuki appeared and said, "Oh, come on! Like he deserves any slack. You already had to be dragged here by Monika. I don't know if you come here just to hang out, or what, but if you don't take us seriously, then you won't hear the end of it."

For a moment, Josuke thought that he saw an electrical surge from one of the lights overhead. He thought that he saw a familiar tail while Natsuki sat down after arguing with Monika.

Yuri then got his attention. "Sorry about that, Josuke. We'll make sure to put your comfort first, okay?" She then shot a disappointed glance at Natsuki. "Um, anyway… Now that you're in the club and all… perhaps you might have interest in picking up a book to read?"

_This seems a bit odd… Why does it feel strange for Yuri to act a bit more confident than usual?_ "… I guess so."

Her eyes lit up. "Well, since I am the Vice President and all, I thought that I should help you get started on something you might like." She reached into her bag and pulled out a book. "I didn't want you to feel left out so I picked out a book that you might enjoy. It's a short read, so it should keep your attention, even if you don't usually read. And we could, you know…" Yuri looked at him shyly. "Discuss it… if you want…"

_There it is. This feels more normal… But why does it seem like I've done this before? Maybe I read this book before for school?_ "… Wow. Thanks, Yuri!" Josuke said as he took the book.

She sighed in relief. "Well, you can read it at your own pace. I look forward to hearing what you think."

Everyone had now settled in. Josuke was expecting Monika to kick off some activity for the club, but that didn't seem to be the case. Yuri had her face buried in a book, and Natsuki was rummaging around in the closet.

_…_ _Now that I'm alone, what was that thing I saw?_ Josuke slowly approached the light that surged earlier. As he got closer, an eye emerged from the light… followed by another eye and an orange beak. An entire yellow entity appeared to spawn from the light, crackling with electricity.

"Josuke!" it called to him.

"WHAT?! YOU ESCAPED?! HOW?! CRAZY DIAMOND!" Josuke yelled as he saw the Stand Red Hot Chili Pepper before him. He activated his own Stand and attacked it.

"DORARARARARA!"

Instead of the punches hitting its target, they went right through it. Josuke blinked, and the Stand was gone. He franticly looked all around the room to see where it went. There was no trace of it, but all he saw was three concerned and frightened looks from three girls. He retracted Crazy Diamond.

After a moment of silence, Yuri asked, "A-Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah… I'm fine. I just… I… Uh…" Josuke began to sweat nervously and he tried to come up with an excuse. He then ran for the door. "I just need to go to the bathroom!" he called out before he left.

* * *

Josuke washed his face in the bathroom sink and looked in the mirror.

"What the hell was that?" he asked himself. "I know I just saw Red Hot Chili Pepper. But it wasn't there? I know that it can't move that fast. Also, this school is far away from the prison Akira is held. His Stand's range is definitely not that far."

He wiped his face with a paper towel and fixed his hair before he left.

On his way back to the clubroom, Josuke still continued to think. _What if what I saw was a hallucination? Just like when I saw… Kira yesterday. This could be from a Stand ability…_

He began to feel uneasy about going back into the club. _What if one of them is the user…?_

* * *

Josuke entered the clubroom for the second time that day.

Monika approached him. "Are you okay, Josuke? You gave us quite a scare earlier."

"Yeah, are you feeling well?" Natsuki asked, standing beside Monika. "I was beginning to think that you weren't coming back."

"Did something scare you? Ah-! I… hope it wasn't from the book…" Yuri muttered, behind both of them.

He was taken aback. Josuke wasn't expecting all three of them approach him at once. He was considering to talk with each of them one at a time to see if they were suspicious. He began to sweat nervously. "I-I'm fine. I just didn't feel too well for a moment."

"Oh? Is that so?" Yuri began to walk towards him, a hand stretched out to feel his forehead.

Josuke gently pushed her hand away and said, "I'm fine! There's no need to worry."

Yuri immediately blushed and tried to hide herself in her long hair. "O-Oh my… Did I really just… S-Sorry…"

"It's alright, Yuri," he reassured her.

The club members dispersed once again to go back to what they were doing.

_Say, I might be able to use this time to get to know each of them to see if they are the user. But who first…? … How about Yuri? She was the one acting the most strange out of all of them today._

Josuke decided to pursue Yuri. He walked up to her as she sat down in her desk. "Hey, Yuri, I was just wondering… if maybe… you… wanted to… read the book together," he fumbled with his words, trying to piece them together to come up with an excuse to spend time with her.

She began to blush. "Oh… A-Are you sure? You really don't have to…"

"It's fine, Yuri. I was also wondering what the story is about."

"Well…" She looked at the back of the book to make sure that she wouldn't spoil anything. The book was called _A Portrait of Markov_. "Basically, it's about this religious camp that was turned into a human experiment prison, and the people trapped there have this trait that turns them into killing machines that lust for blood. But the facility gets even worse, and they start selectively breeding people by cutting off their limbs and affixing them to- O-Oh, that might be a bit of a spoiler… But anyway, I-I'm really into it! … The book, I mean! N-Not the thing about the limbs… That's kind of…"

_Dark. What the hell?! She made it sound like it was going to be a fun read, but now it sounds like something Kira would read in his spare time! Yuri doesn't seem like the type of person who'd be into that stuff._

"Ah-! Are you not a fan of that sort of thing, Josuke?" she asked.

"Uh… Well… I just thought that… that trait thing sounds like some sort of Stand," he mumbled at the last part.

Yuri looked at him, confused. "… Like a what?"

"Ah, it's nothing! I just thought that it's was some possession or something…"

"Oh… Anyway, it's just that kind of story…" she began. "It's the kind that challenges you to look at life from a strange new perspective. When horrible things happen not just because someone wants to be evil… **But because the world is full of horrible people, and we're all worthless anyway. Then, suddenlyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy-** I'm… I'm rambling, aren't I?"

Josuke jumped back slightly when Yuri shifted her tone. _What the hell?! Is she going crazy or something? I can tell that she isn't the user since she didn't seem to have any idea about what a Stand is._ "I-It's fine, Yuri…"

She remained quiet for a moment before saying, "I feel like I should let you know that I have this problem… When I let things like books and writing fill my thoughts… **my whole body gets incredibly-** I kind of forget to pay attention to other people… So I'm sorry if I end up saying something strange! And please stop me if I start talking too much!"

_I can tell… She probably isn't the user, but she may have been affected by the Stand as well. I don't know why, but just seeing her act like this just seems off…_ "Right… So, do you want to read the book now?"

Josuke got his book then sat down at the desk next to her. He then slid it closer to her desk and opened the book so it was between them. She hesitantly agreed and held on to the other side of the book. They read for quite some time before Josuke noticed something strange.

_Yuri's a bit fidgety since we started reading…_ "You can rest if you're feeling sick or something," he said concerned. "Your breathing is a little…"

"My breathing…?" Yuri asked as she put her hand to her chest, possibly to feel her heartbeat. "I-I didn't even notice… Anyway, I'm fine!" She nervously laughed. "I just need some water…!"

"… Okay. Don't push yourself."

Yuri then stood up and rushed out of the room. Seeing this, Monika approached Josuke.

"Josuke? Did something happen just now?"

He blinked as he thought about what did just happen. "I have no idea… Yuri was acting a little strange, I guess…"

"So you don't know anything…Well, I'm sure it's fine. Yuri just does this sometimes, so it's nothing alarming."

Monika then decided to start sharing poems, even though Yuri was still out. Josuke hadn't written anything new. He had just found a poem that he probably wrote for school last year, called _Best Friend_. As he shared his poem with Monika, Yuri entered and they all continued sharing. Everything went on as normal from that point on… until Natsuki and Yuri began to argue.

"I didn't realize you were so invested in trying to impress our new member, Yuri," Josuke heard Natsuki say.

"Eh? That's not what I… Uh…" Yuri stuttered. "You… You're just… Maybe you're just jealous that Josuke appreciates my advice more than he appreciated yours!"

"Huh?! And how do you know he didn't appreciate my advice more? Are you that full of yourself?"

"No. If I was full of myself, I would deliberately go out of my way to make everything I do overly cutesy!"

"Well, you know what?! I wasn't the one whose boobs magically grew a size bigger as soon as Josuke started showing up!"

_Wait, whaaaaaat…?!_ Josuke's eyes widened.

Monika tried to intervene as Yuri became incredibly embarrassed, but she was told to butt out.

Yuri began to talk back. "Taking out your own insecurities on others like that… You really act as young as you look, Natsuki."

Natsuki responded, "Me? Look who's talking, you wannabe edgy bitch!"

Time began to speed up around Josuke.

* * *

For a second, a priest in Florida had a dream where he saw what looked like a half centaur next to a holy diver.

* * *

_Whoa… How did this-_

"Edgy…? Sorry that my lifestyle is too much for someone of your mental age to comprehend!"

"See? Just saying that proves my point! Most people learn to get over themselves after they graduate middle school, you know."

"If you want to prove anything, then stop harassing others with your sickening attitude! You think you can counterbalance your toxic personality just by dressing and acting cute? The only cute thing about you is how hard you try."

"Whoa, be careful or you might cut yourself on that edge, Yuri. Oh, my bad… You already do, don't you?"

_…_ _What? The? Hell?_

"D-Did you just accuse me of cutting myself? What the fuck is wrong with your head?!"

"Yeah, go on! Let Josuke hear everything you really think! I'm sure he'll be head over heels for you after this!"

"A-Ah!" Suddenly Yuri turns toward Josuke. "Josuke…! She- She's just trying to make me look bad…!"

"That's not true! She started it!"

Time had sped up so quickly for Josuke. His vision had become quite blurry and he felt a bit dizzy. Those two girls looked at him as though they were waiting for him to side with one of them. But… he couldn't. He couldn't stand it. Finding a Stand user or not… He can't put up with this right now. He had to get out of there… NOW!

"Uh… I don't feel too well, actually. I might come back tomorrow…? Bye."

And with that, Josuke bolted out the door, running faster than he could remember. He was frightened. Terrified, even. He ran straight to the café to tell the others what he saw.

_What the fuck was all that?! Who is the user? Just what IS this Stand?!_

* * *

"Hey, here comes Josuke!" Okuyasu exclaims.

"Remember," Koichi began to whisper. "Let's not yet mention about last week to Josuke. He would most likely deny anything we tell him."

They all nodded just as Josuke ran up to the table, completely out of breath and confused when he saw both Rohan and Yukako.

"Hah… Hah… Hey guys… Hah…" Josuke panted.

"Hey, you don't look to well," Rohan said.

"Yeah, did you run all the way here? I didn't think the club usually ended at this time…" Yukako added.

Koichi looked concerned. "Josuke… Did something happen?"

Josuke had pulled up a chair and was catching his breath. "Did something happen…?! I've never been more scared in my life!"

They all looked puzzled and worried.

"I saw some of the craziest things…!" he continued.

"… Like what?" Okuyasu asked.

"I saw Kira."

All of them immediately froze. That name belonged to one of the most evil people they had even known. They knew about the horrible deeds that he had done in his life. Reimi… Shigechi… And even ruining Hayato's home life. Not to mention, the terrifying power his Stand, Killer Queen, had.

"When?" Okuyasu quietly asked.

"Yesterday," Josuke answered. "I thought I saw him, but when I looked again I only saw Monika."

"It's her! She's the Stand user!" The Hand's user announced.

"Oh please, Okuyasu. I highly doubt that Monika of all people would be a Stand user. Plus, that's not even all of it…"

They looked up in surprise.

"M-More?" Koichi asked.

"Yeah. I also saw Red Hot Chili Pepper come out of a lightbulb. I tried to attack it, but when I looked again nothing was there. And just before I left, Yuri and Natsuki were arguing."

"That doesn't sound too bad. The last part, I mean," Rohan said.

"Yeah… but when Natsuki said that Yuri cuts herself, everything sped up… literally."

They looked confused and turned to Yukako.

She looked horrified. "She said WHAT?! Yuri would never do that! Sure she has a knife collection, but she would never use them on herself…"

"Wait," Josuke stopped her. "You know Yuri? And… she has… a knife collection…?"

Yukako nodded. "Yeah. We began friends last year. I actually got to know her when I asked about one of the cool looking knives she brought to school."

Josuke's stomach sank. _This is great… I should be careful around her then._ "Well, do you know if she's a Stand user?"

"Yuri? Of course not!"

"… Well, I don't think I completely trust her… Did she seem off to you?"

"Ah… Um… I didn't actually see her that much today. I tried to find her at lunch, but I couldn't find her."

"What about Natsuki, Josuke," Okuyasu suddenly interrupted. "What about her? Did anything seem off? Did you see another bruise?"

Josuke blinked as he turned to his friend. "… Bruise? What are you talking about?"

"Josuke, you joined the Literature Club last week. You and… Sayori…"

"Okuyasu!" Koichi yelled. "S-Sorry, Josuke! Okuyasu is still trying to get you with that one-"

"No, Koichi! He needs to know! This Stand has been able to make him forget an entire week! Now he's telling us it's making him see things! He needs to know. How could he forget that he determined that Yuri isn't a Stand user and that Natsuki came over to his house? What happened when she came over? What do you remember?! Tell us!"

Josuke stood up. "What the hell are you talking about?! I've forgotten an entire week? That's a load of crap! No Stand ability can be that effective! Quit trying to mess with my head, Okuyasu!"

"I told you…" Koichi mumbled.

"HOW COULD YOU FORGET SAYORI, JOSUKE?!" Okuyasu yelled as he stood up, tearing beginning to form in his eyes. "We may have only walked to school together for just a few days, but she was our friend! You must have known what happened to her!"

Josuke backed up a bit. "What? Who is-?"

"SAYORI IS DEAD, JOSUKE! DID SHE KILL HERSELF OR NOT?!"

Everyone turned to look at Josuke.

His eyes were wide as he responded, "You… You're all crazy! This is probably still the Stand ability… I can't trust anyone… I'm out."

All of a sudden, Josuke was launched back from being punched in the face by a blue and silver hand. He covered his nose as he felt blood coming out of it.

"Why didn't you save her…?" Okuyasu asked, a tear rolling down his face as The Hand stood behind him.

Josuke stood up and ran off. Koichi covered his mouth, Rohan face-palmed and Yukako looked away.

"Look at what you've done," Rohan began. "You freaked him out. Why are all of you so difficult to work with?"

Okuyasu stood silently for a moment before he just walked away.

"I guess we're back to square one…" Koichi sighed.

**-To Be Continued**


	11. Another One Bites the Dust

It's time for the Literature Club to meet again on this Thursday afternoon. Josuke gingerly made his way to the clubroom. He was still shaken up by the events that took place yesterday. He had spent the whole day avoiding his friends.

_This Stand… I don't know what exactly it does, but I do know one thing for sure. I can't trust anyone! This might even have been from Heaven's Door! I need to clear this up before it's too late…_

Josuke entered the clubroom.

"Welcome back, Josuke…" Yuri greeted him.

"Ah, hey Yuri…" he replied. He was not sure what to think of her. _Was she affected by the Stand or is she the user?_

"Um…" She looked around the room and only found Natsuki reading manga at a desk. Yuri then grabbed Josuke's arm and dragged him to the corner of the room. "About yesterday… I… I really need to apologize. Nothing like that has ever happened before… And… something just came over me, I guess… I wasn't acting mentally sound. Please don't think we're usually like this! I said some horrible things to Natsuki yesterday and I regret them completely."

He had no idea why, but he suddenly felt okay. "Yuri, I'm glad that you were considerate and apologized. I may have only been here for a few days, but I could tell that something was off the other day."

Yuri smiled. "You're really going to make me too happy… I'm really glad that you're such an understanding person, and I'm really glad that you joined this club. Everything is a little bit brighter with you around, and- Ah… S-Sorry. What am I saying right now…? I just-"

"Hey, have you guys seen Monika?" Natsuki asked as she walked over to the two of them.

Yuri jumped in surprise as Josuke answered, "No, I haven't. I was wondering where she was…"

For some reason a strange thought flashed through his mind: _Protect her._

She turned to Yuri. "Man… Yuri, I'm guessing you haven't either?"

Yuri was taken aback by how calmly Natsuki was speaking to her. "N-No, I haven't…"

"Jeez, this isn't like her at all. I know it's stupid, but I can't help but worry a little bit… What? Why're you looking at me like that?" Natsuki had noticed Yuri looking at her with slight confusion.

"U-Um… Natsuki, about yesterday… I-I just wanted to apologize! I promise I didn't mean any of the things I said! And I'll do my best to stay in control from now on… So-"

"Yuri, what the heck are you talking about? Did you do something yesterday?"

Josuke and Yuri looked at her in disbelief.

_Wait… Did Yuri say something bad to her after I left? I mean, I thought I saw Natsuki running home, crying, as I went back to my house. I don't think that Yuri is lying, but…_

"Jeez…" Natsuki continued. " **Whatever's on your mind, I'm sure it was nothing. I don't even remember anything bad happening. You're the kind of person who worries too much about the little things, aren't you?** "

"Eh? B-But…!" Yuri tried to say.

Josuke backed away slowly as Natsuki began to ramble off words in a very forced manner. _What the hell?! Why is she speaking like a robot?!_

"I'll accept your apology anyway, if it helps you feel better about it. Besides, it's kind of nice to hear, since I was always afraid you secretly hated me or something like that," Natsuki giggled lightly as she began to speak normally.

Yuri didn't seem to take notice of her change in tone. "N-No, not at all…! I don't hate you."

"Hehehe… Well, you're kind of weird, but I don't hate you either." Natsuki then turned toward Josuke. "You're still on trial, though."

"…" Josuke had no idea how to respond. "Um… Alright…"

Suddenly the door swung open and Monika walked right in.

"Sorry! I'm super sorry!" she apologized.

Josuke felt relieved as soon as Monika entered. "Ah, there you are…"

"I didn't mean to be late…I hope you guys weren't worried or anything."

"Nah…"

"What took you so long, anyway?" Natsuki asked.

"Ah…" Monika began to answer. "Well, my last period today was study hall. To be honest, I kind of just lost track of time…"

"That makes no sense, though. You would have heard the bell ring, at least."

"I must not have heard it, since I was practicing piano…"

Everyone looked at Monika.

"Piano…?" Yuri nervously asked. "I wasn't aware you played music as well, Monika."

"Ah, don't give me more credit than I deserve. I guess I've been practicing for a while, but I'm still not really good yet."

"Still… That must require a lot of dedication. So, I'm still impressed."

"Aw, well thanks, Yuri."

"You should play something for us sometime!" Natsuki chimed in.

Monika looked at Josuke. "Well, I am working on writing a song, but it's not quite done yet… Maybe once I get a little bit better, I will."

The thought of Monika playing piano made Josuke smile. "That sound cool! I'd love to see it sometime."

"Is that so? In that case, I won't let you down, Josuke," she said as she smiled sweetly.

The others looked at Josuke as he suddenly realized what exactly he had said. "Ah…! I didn't mean any pressure or anything like that!"

Monika giggled. "Don't worry. I was hoping that I could share it with you, anyway. I guess that's why I've been practicing so much recently."

"I see…" _I don't know if she was addressing the club or just me, but honestly… I don't care._ "In that case, best of luck."

"Thanks! So, did I miss anything?"

"Not really."

Natsuki had already run into the closet as Yuri approached him.

"Josuke… Um… Since your compliments put me in a good mood, I was wondering if you would like to spend some time together today. I mean- in the club!"

"Yeah, definitely…" Despite how dark the book's description sounded, he did enjoy how the story was going and wanted to see where it went.

"Okay! Can we start now? Let's find a place to sit- A-Ah! I'm being a little forceful, aren't I…? I'm sorry! My heart… just won't stop pounding for some reason…" Yuri said as she tried to hide herself in her hair again.

_Seeing her like this makes me understand why she and Yukako are friends._ "It's alright. There's no need to worry. I guess it's nice to see you so passionate about something."

"Y-Yeah! But… I need to try to calm down. I won't be able to focus on reading like this…" She took a deep breath before taking the book out of her bag. "Actually, I have a request… Do you mind if I make some tea first?"

"Not at all."

Yuri explained how a cup of tea goes well with reading and offered Josuke a cup before retrieving the tea set out of the closet. Josuke helped her out by holding the electric stove and water pitcher.

"I'm going to plug this in at the teacher's desk, and then I'll go get some water," she explained. Yuri set up the stove on the desk and switched it on to get it ready to heat up. She then took the water pitcher from him and began to make her way out to get some water.

"H-Hey, I might as well walk with you…" Josuke nervously said.

"Th-That's okay!" Yuri stated. "You stay here… It won't take long…"

She exited the classroom with the pitcher. Monika suddenly appeared again.

"… Did Yuri leave you again?" she asked.

"No, it's not like that. She just went to get water to make some tea."

"Oh, okay! Sorry for misunderstanding."

As Monika went back to what she was doing Josuke began to get lost in his thoughts.

_Damn… She's cute…_

* * *

Ten minutes had passed.

_Yuri said that it wouldn't take that long. The nearest water fountain isn't that far from here. Is there something holding her up? I should probably see if she's okay…_

Josuke stood up and made his way out of the clubroom. He walked down the hallway toward the nearest water fountain. All of a sudden, he heard a strange noise coming from around the corner. It sounded like breathing. A sharp inhale, like when someone sucks air through their teeth. Worried, Josuke peered around the corner.

"Yuri…?" he asked.

"Kya!" Yuri jumped in surprise.

Josuke took a step back in horror as he noticed many fresh, deep cuts along her left forearm.

_Was she… CUTTING HERSELF?! Natsuki was right…?_

Suddenly, he saw a figure emerge from behind Yuri, wearing a purple suit, skull-patterned tie and gray slicked back hair. Josuke's eyes widened in fear at the realization of who this figure was. Before he had anytime to act, a pink man with cat-like ears and eyes suddenly appeared in his left eye.

The suited figure cackled maniacally as he grabbed Yuri's head, tears streaming down her face.

"Josuke…" the figure began. "This is the power of Killer Queen's Third Bomb: Bites the Dust!"

The cat-man in his eye pressed his thumb on his finger, like he was using a detonator. Then…

The world exploded.

* * *

"I'm back. Thanks for waiting patiently," Yuri said calmly. "Josuke, do you like oolong tea?"

Josuke looked up at her. He was sitting at a desk in the clubroom.

_Just then… that was Kosaku Kawajiri…_ He then stood up and grabbed Yuri by the arm.

"Come with me," he said sternly.

Yuri began blushing from embarrassment as a boy just dragged her out of the room and down the hall to the bathrooms. Once they had turned the corner and were out of sight from the clubroom, Josuke turned around to face her.

"Yuri…"

"Y-Yes…?" Her whole face was red.

Josuke then rolled back her left sleeve to show the cuts that he thought he had just seen before. Yuri's eyes widened as she tried to pull away from his iron grip.

"Yuri… Why?" Josuke looked at her dead in the eye.

"A-Ah… I, uh… I d-don't know…" she stuttered. "I don't know why I'm doing it at school… There's something wrong with me… Please, let go."

Without stopping his gaze, he began to use Crazy Diamond's ability to heal her. Yuri looked scared and confused as she saw her cuts disappear right before her eyes. A moment later, she shifted her focus on Josuke as he held out his other hand.

"Give me the knife, Yuri."

Her stomach sank as she wondered how he knew that she had a knife with her. She turned away for a moment before Josuke made her jump.

"Yuri! Knife, now!" he yelled at her.

She swallowed as she gingerly took her knife out of her pocket and held it out. He swiped it out of her hand and held it at his side.

"I'll give this back to you tomorrow. If you hurt yourself, I can help you. But please, don't do it again."

Yuri silently nodded.

Josuke sighed, "Now, go back to the clubroom. I'll meet you there."

A few seconds later, she slowly began to walk back to the clubroom. Once she was out of sight, Josuke went into the bathroom, grabbed a handful of paper towels and wrapped them around the blade of the knife before putting it in his pocket. He then walked back to the clubroom, slightly relieved to see Yuri making tea. She hadn't even bothered to hear his answer so she decided for him. Josuke made his way over to her, slipping the paper towel-wrapped knife into his bag, and sat down at a desk. Once she had poured each of them a pot of tea, they continued reading the book, sitting on the floor per Yuri's request.

After a while of reading, Josuke turned his head to look at Monika. His gaze lingered.

"I can't…" Yuri muttered.

He turned back around to face her. "Huh?"

This time, it's Yuri who forcefully grabbed Josuke's arm and brought him to his feet. The teacups were knocked over.

"Josuke…" she breathed. "My heart… My heart won't stop pounding, Josuke… I can't calm down. I can't focus on anything anymore. Can you feel it, Josuke?" She suddenly pressed his hand against her chest.

_Uh… What is she doing?_

"Why is this happening to me? I feel like I'm losing my mind… Do it again."

He looked at her, confused. "Um… what? Do what again?"

"That thing you did to my arm. Do it again."

"Y-Yuri… It wouldn't help this sort of thing."

"I can't make it stop. It even makes me not want to read. I just want… to look… at you."

She began staring at Josuke, breathing heavily. He had pulled back his hand from her chest.

_This is creepy… even for Yuri. How could I get out of this? Wait…_

"Does Yukako know?" Josuke whispered.

Yuri blinked. "Huh?"

"About what you did to your arm…?"

She suddenly looked extremely nervous. "H-How do you know her…?"

"She's a friend of mine, too."

From that point on, neither of them said anything.

After a while, Monika told everyone that it was time to share poems. Since they were near each other, they shared poems. Josuke had copied down that poem he found, _Arrows_ , onto a new piece of paper. They exchanged poems.

Once they had read each other's poems, Yuri began to speak. "My mind had been a little hyperactive lately, so I had to take it out on your pen. Ah-"

_Hold on. My pen?_

"That is… a-a pen fell out of your backpack yesterday, so I took it home for safekeeping and… I, um…" she fumbled with her words a bit. "I just… really like… the way… that it writes. So I wrote this poem with it, and now you're touching it… Hahaha! I-I'm okay!"

Josuke just stared at her. She was probably the strangest girl he had ever known. Although, he still wanted her to be safe because he detested self-harm.

The rest of the poem sharing went on as normal. After that they all talked about the club festival next week. However, Monika was feeling pretty bad after Natsuki and Yuri stated that she was the only one who cared about the club like her. Josuke couldn't help but feel bad for her. Natsuki left the meeting after some arguing with Yuri and Josuke.

While Monika sat and stared at her desk, the other two began to converse.

"This is bad…" Yuri muttered. "I don't know what to do…"

"Well… Do you have an opinion on the festival?" Josuke asked.

She began to play with her hair. "I-I don't know… I'm kind of indifferent, I guess… **Who cares about that obnoxious brat?** "

He jumped back in surprise. _Whoa, wait. What the hell?!_

"I mean, I like how nice and quiet the club is now… And I'm just… happy with you here… But still! I'm the Vice President… It's not right for me to ignore my responsibilities like that… **Nobody would cry if she killed herself.** "

He then looked at her angrily. "What the hell, Yuri?"

She looked at him in confusion. "W-What? Did I do something wrong?"

"'Did I do something wrong?' That's rich! You just said that no one would care if Natsuki killed herself!"

Yuri's eyes widened in horror. "N-No… I-I would never-"

"Shut it! I'm tired of your shit today. Clean up your act. I'm going home."

Yuri's face had a look of terror and betrayal as Josuke stormed out of the clubroom. On his way out, he shot a glance at Monika and suddenly felt at ease.

* * *

Josuke was at home, writing a poem for the next literature club meeting. He was pretty lucky when he found the poem that he supposedly wrote by Angelo Stone. He did find another poem that he had written, but it seemed a bit too short and didn't seem that good overall. Having to write another poem wouldn't kill him.

He was almost finished writing when the phone suddenly rang. Josuke's mom picked it up and called out, saying it was for him. He slowly made his way over to the phone and answered it.

"Hello…?"

"Hi, Josuke!" the voice on the other end of the line said.

"Ugh! I told you already, Koichi, I can't trust any of you," Josuke groaned as he began to hang up.

"W-Wait! Josuke, stop! I just need to tell you something!"

His hand froze before he raised the phone back up to his ear. "… What is it?"

"I want you to know… We're all worried about you-"

"Stop. For my own safety, I'm not going to be talking to any of you. I've been seeing a bunch of stuff at that club, and I don't want to be suddenly told that I have completely forgotten someone. This Stand has made everyone act differently around me-!"

"Josuke! Please! Let me just help you. I won't ask you what happened or tell you anything that you don't want to know. I just want to tell you to call us at the café after your club meeting."

"Koichi, I'm not gonna do that…"

"In that case, we'll all charge in there and expect the worst."

Josuke gritted his teeth. He couldn't decide whether or not he should do as Koichi said. He couldn't trust any of them with what he knew, but at the same time he didn't want them all to rush in there and let their Stands loose. Josuke shuddered at the thought of The Hand scraping away parts of the clubroom bit by bit.

He sighed. "… Fine."

Koichi's voice began to sound more cheerful. "Great! … So… I'll see you at lunch…? I won't say anything about the club. I promise."

"… Alright… Goodbye," said Josuke as he hung up the phone.

Eventually, he made his way back to his room. He slumped down in the chair at his desk, facing the poem he had begun to write.

_…_ _I don't know why I just did that. Maybe I'm just… lonely, or something. I can't trust them with what I know. The only one who doesn't really seem suspicious at all is Monika… Yeah… Just Monika…_

**-To Be Continued**


	12. You're Crazy

_Here we go again…_

Josuke had cautiously entered the clubroom and just hung out for a while. Besides the two pop-quizzes, the school had been pretty uneventful.

He had spent his lunch with Koichi. As promised, the situation with the club was not mentioned at first. Surprisingly, Josuke was the one who brought it up, asking why none of them investigated the club themselves. Koichi told him that he couldn't join the club because Yukako wouldn't allow him to be in a room full of girls without her. She herself couldn't join because she wanted to give Yuri some space, and Rohan was too old to take part in a high school club.

Before they went back to class, Koichi reminded Josuke to call the café when the club was over. Okuyasu didn't even join them for lunch. Koichi didn't know why he wouldn't check it out himself. Josuke assumed that Okuyasu was mad at him for whoever it was he apparently forgot.

_Honestly… I don't care about what's up with him. Sure we might have been friends, and we do like a lot of the same things… Hang on. Why am I thinking that? He's my friend… Right?_

"Hi, Josuke!" Yuri cheerfully greeted him. "I've been waiting for you. Are you ready to continue reading? I brought my best tea today-"

He froze as she stood in front of him. "Uh… Yuri? I only just got here."

_What's up with her? Does she not remember what happened yesterday, or is she trying to clean up her act?_

"Monika!" Natsuki shouted. "I told you not to- Ugh… Is she really late again?"

Yuri sighed. "Inconsiderate as usual, Natsuki."

They both looked at her.

"Excuse me?" Natsuki said.

"Must you always interrupt my conversations with your incessant yelling?"

"What are you talking about? You say that like I do it on a regular basis or something. I just wasn't paying attention, okay? I'm sorry. Seriously… What's gotten into you lately?"

"Me?" Yuri looked surprised.

"Yeah," Josuke began. "You've been acting pretty strange. Don't you remember what happened yesterday?"

"W-What do you mean? I-Is it really that bad? I'll get over it! Anyway, we don't need to talk about it…"

"I think we kinda do need to talk about it."

Suddenly Monika walked into the room.

"Aw, man… I'm the last one here again!" she sighed.

"It's alright," Josuke began, a wave of relief washing over him as he saw her. "We haven't done anything really yet."

"Were you practicing piano again?" Yuri inquired, trying to distract the others from her issue.

"… Y-Yeah… That's right…" Monika nervously giggled.

"You must have a lot of determination. Starting this club, and still trying to make time for piano…"

Monika shot a quick glance at Josuke. "Well, maybe not determination…"

"Anyway," Josuke interrupted. "Should we talk some more about the festival?"

"I thought we already discussed this," Natsuki stated.

"Um… Natsuki," Yuri began. "We talked about it yesterday and we decided that we will do something for the festival."

The pink haired girl folded her arms and remained silent.

"Um, also… If you help us out with this, then I'll buy you a new manga!"

Everyone was surprised at first before Natsuki began to laugh.

Once she composed herself, she said, "Look, I did some thinking about yesterday. I was a little more hostile than I meant to be… I guess I really felt threatened or something. Probably like when m-" She quickly cut herself off and cleared her throat. "Anyway, I'll help out."

Josuke smiled, but his thoughts began to focus on what she was going to say for some reason. _It's good that she'll help us out, but why do I feel like I need to protect her? And from who?_

"Thank goodness," Yuri sighed. "Isn't that wonderful, Monika- Monika?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah! That's great! The club wouldn't be the same without you, Natsuki!" Monika said with a low energy, which went back to normal when she faced Josuke. "So, what do you want to do today, Josuke? I thought we could-"

"Actually- We already have plans today."

Monika's face fell. "Ah…"

"Hey!" Josuke said. "I haven't even said that I would do it."

Now Yuri's face fell. "O-Oh…"

"I need to get some work done first, and-"

"It doesn't matter," Monika stated, a disappointed look on her face. "You guys can do whatever you want."

And with that, the club dispersed. Yuri lingered for a moment before she reluctantly turned around and headed for the door. Just before she made it to the door, she felt a hand grasp her arm. She turned around to see Josuke looking at her with concern.

"O-Oh, Josuke…" she muttered. "Do you want to read some more after you-"

"Don't do it," he whispered. "If you go to the bathroom and take more than five minutes, I'm going to get you and you won't get your knife back."

Yuri gasped, eyes wide with shock. She raised her other hand to her chest. Looking into his eyes, she could see that he was telling the truth. For a moment, Yuri felt like Josuke was looking at her with two sets of eyes. She gently pulled her arm out of his grasp and sighed.

"O-Okay… C-Can I… have my-"

"No. I can't trust you with it yet. Maybe after the meeting…"

Her face lit up slightly as she said, "Alright."

Yuri then made her way back to her desk and sat down.

_That was close… She was about to do it again. Anyway, nothing bad has happened today just yet. I suppose I should take this time to put all of this evidence together._

Josuke then made his way to a desk away from the others and took out a piece of paper. He then reached into his bag for his pen, but he couldn't find it. He looked thought his bag, in every pocket and section, to find it. When he found no trace of it, his stomach sank when he remembered yesterday's events.

_Wait… Didn't Yuri say that she took my pen? Great…_

Josuke slowly stood up and made his way over to the purple haired girl. She was reading some more of the book, but she quickly put it down as she saw him approach.

"J-Josuke! Did you change your mind?" she asked.

Josuke shook his head. "No. Could I have my pen back?"

Yuri winced at what he said. "U-Um… S-Sure…"

She very slowly reached into her bag and pulled out his pen. Her hand trembled as she held it out for him. He took the pen from her, but he noticed something strange about it.

_Hang on… This is my pen, but it feels… sticky?_

"Um, hey… Yuri?" Josuke began. "What's up with my pen? Why does it feel sticky?"

Her face became entirely red as she looked away and tried to hide in her hair.

"… I… I'm sorry…" she muttered, barely audible.

He raised an eyebrow.

_She's sorry…? What for? It's not like she-_

Josuke's eyes widened in realization.

_…_ _Oh… OH! … My God…_

He made his way back to his desk, only holding his pen at the end with two fingers. As Josuke sat down, he looked at his pen in disgust.

_Really?! My new pen?! Did Yuri really…? … Actually, I'll go wash it off… Hopefully that'll work…_

* * *

Josuke returned to the clubroom, having washed his pen thoroughly, and found everything and everyone in order as he sat down. He then began writing down his thoughts, hoping to piece these things together.

_Now… back to business. So, first I see Yoshikage Kira in place of Monika before she said that I should join her club. Then, I see Red Hot Chili Pepper from the lights, but it wasn't there. Next, everything began to speed up around me as Yuri and Natsuki began to argue. After that, my friends said that I had forgotten something… Did I really? … Whatever…_

He quickly looked up and glanced around, only to see everything going on as normal. He then quickly went back to writing.

_Then, Natsuki claimed that she had forgotten that argument. Next, Yuri was cutting herself when Kira, looking like Kosaku Kawajiri, appeared behind her… How does this all connect? Is this some sort of Stand that makes hallucinations of past enemies? No… That seems a little too specific for a Stand ability. Plus, that wouldn't explain Natsuki, and possibly, my memory loss. Hallucinations also wouldn't explain Yuri's strange behavior… That's what I missed!_

Josuke had finished writing down everything. Each point was scattered about the page with lines drawn to them with possible theories.

_Alright. That's everything. It seems like the one that could be the user would be- … not Monika. She couldn't possibly be a Stand user. I knew her last year!_

Before Josuke could think of anything more, Monika called the club together.

"Okay, everyone! It's time to share our poems!" she announced.

Josuke put away his plan and reluctantly pulled out his poem: _Truth_. He had written it right after Yuri had angered him so it was a bit aggressive. He decided that he would show his poem to Natsuki first. They were both a bit hesitant to exchange each other's poems. Natsuki read his poem.

* * *

_Truth_

The truth can hurt.

The truth is not always helpful.

People lie to make others feel better.

They lie to make themselves feel better.

This town is full of liars.

People lie every day to hide what they really do.

They lie about how they are feeling.

They lie about their opinions on certain things.

But most things are better left unsaid.

We don't need to know how you feel about that person.

We don't need to know what you think of us.

And you probably don't want to know what we think of you.

* * *

Josuke's eyes widened as he read her poem. The contents of it explained how worried she was about Yuri and Monika and that he should not tell anyone she wrote it.

_What the hell?! This isn't a poem! This is… a cry for help? I don't understand… I'm glad that she cares about her friends, but why would they be acting strangely in the first place? And why should I not let Monika know? She can make cupcakes? Cool…_

Josuke looked up from the poem at her. "I… uh… liked it…?"

Natsuki stared at him, expressionless and said, " **I changed my mind. Ignore everything you just read.** "

She then swiped her poem out of his hands before giving him back his own and went on her way. He just stared at her as she walked away, mildly confused.

_What? Was? That?_

Yuri then approached him and said, "Finally…"

Josuke jumped slightly as she took the poem out of his hands and held it up to her face. She breathed it in, not even reading it.

"It's perfect. I love everything about it. Josuke, I want to take this home."

"You didn't even read it-"

"Will you let me keep it? Please?"

Josuke looked at her as she pleaded, confused. "S-Sure, I guess…"

Yuri laughed. "You're too nice to me… I've never met anyone as nice as you. I could die."

Josuke's eyes widened.

"N-Not really, but-" she continued. "I just don't know how to describe it. It's okay to be feeling this way, right? It's not bad, right? I'm going to take this home with me and keep it in my room. I hope that it makes you feel good when you think about me having it. I'll take good care of it!"

"I mean… it's just a poem."

" **I'll even touch myself while reading it over and over.** "

Josuke backed away from her, his face becoming red. "W-W-WHAT?"

" **I'll give myself paper cuts so your skin oil enters my bloodstream. Ahahahahaha.** You can have my poem too. Besides, after you read it, I know you're really going to want to keep it. Here, take it. I can't wait any longer. Hurry! Read it!"

His face turned as white as a sheet when she said those words. She then put her poem into his hands. When he looked at the poem, he thought he might hurl. The paper she gave him was full of illegible words with many different colored stains on it.

_What the hell is this?! Is this her blood?! Did she really… Oh God…_

Josuke immediately let go of the paper, letting it float down onto the ground. When he looked back up, he saw Yuri's face right in front of him.

"Do you like it?" she asked, her breathing uneven.

He stumbled back, but she approached him again.

"I wrote it for you! I've endowed it with my scent."

Josuke was terrified. He looked at this girl in horror and disgust for the things she had done. Without meaning to, Crazy Diamond suddenly appeared. It sensed its user's fear and stood between him and the girl. She paid no mind to the cyan and pink figure before her.

"See, aren't I the most thoughtful person in the club?" she continued.

_What the hell. What the hell. What the hell. What the hell. What the hell. Do it! Just stop her, Crazy Diamond!_

Josuke's Stand pulled back its arm and launched a punch in Yuri's direction.

"DORA!"

Before it made contact with her, she jumped back, mouth widen open and tears falling down. Crazy Diamond lowered its fist as it and its user looked at her.

Yuri looked down at the paper, eyes wide. "I… I think… I'm going to vomit."

She then rushed out of the room, her hand covering her mouth. Josuke was left standing there in front of the nastiest object he had ever seen in his life.

_I'll take a disembodied hand any day. This shit is too much. I'm not touching that again. I won't even let Crazy Diamond touch it._

Josuke looked around as his Stand fazed into his body.

"Okay, everyone!" Monika announced. "It's time to figure out the festival preparations." Her face fell. "Let's hurry and get this over with."

Josuke let out a deep sigh. _Great. Hopefully this will get that out of my mind…_

"Jeez…" Natsuki started. "Why is the mood so weird today? Look, even Yuri isn't immune to it."

At that moment, Yuri stumbled into the room, her face drained of all color. She wearily made her way over to the group after she secretively picked up her poem and threw it into the trash.

"Uuh…" she groaned. "Stagnating air is… common foreshadowing that something terrible is about to happen…"

_…_ _Oh… Great._

"Look, can we just get this done?" Monika sighed. "I'm going to be printing and assembling all the poetry pamphlets. Natsuki, I was thinking-"

"I want to make cupcakes!" Natsuki yelled.

"… Yeah, that. Glad we're on the same page. Yuri, you can… Well, it doesn't matter. Do whatever you want as long as you think it'll help."

Yuri looked up. "Monika… I'm not useless, you know!"

"I-I know that!" Monika looked away.

"I already know what I'd like to do. We can't run a successful poetry event without having the right atmosphere for the occasion. So I'm going to make decorations and set up some nice mood lighting."

_Is it just me, or does Yuri seem a bit more assertive than usual…?_

"There, see?" Monika smiled. "That's a great idea! And that gives us all something to do."

"Eh? What about Josuke?"

"Josuke is going to help me."

"I am?" Josuke said, confused.

"Wait, you? You have the easiest job, Monika!" Natsuki complained.

"Sorry, but that's just how it is," the club president stated.

"Like hell it is! What are you trying to pull?"

"I-I agree with Natsuki!" Yuri added. "Not only is your work already most suitable for one person, but my task is laborious enough to benefit from an extra pair of hands."

"Mine too!" Natsuki whined.

"What, your cupcakes? Please."

"Like you would fucking know! All you care about now is dragging Josuke around with you and your stupid books. You AND Monika!"

"Hey!" Monika said defensively. "I didn't even do anything!"

"Okay, then why not let Josuke decide who to help instead of abusing your power?"

"I'm not… abusing my power."

"Yes you are, Monika," Yuri chimed in. "Just let Josuke make the choice, okay?"

_Not Natsuki. I feel like I should stay away from her for some reason… DEFINITELY not Yuri! So… I guess that means-_

"Monika," Josuke decided.

"Yay, you picked me!" she cheered and smiled sweetly. "We can meet at your house this weekend. I promise it'll be fun. Is Sunday okay with you?"

"Are you fucking kidding me?! This isn't fair at all!" Natsuki screamed.

"It is fair, Natsuki. It's what he chose."

"No, it's not fair!" Yuri added. "Giving us all this work and then taking him for yourself. What a shameful thing to do!"

_They're making this seem like I didn't even have a say in this matter…_

"Yuri, I didn't even give you any work. You decided it for yourself. You're being a little unreasonable here."

Yuri's eyes widened, clearly taken aback. "I'm being unreasonable?! Ahahaha! Monika, I can't believe how delusional and self-important you are! Pulling Josuke away from me every single time you're not included in something. Are you jealous? Crazy? Or maybe you just hate yourself so much that you take it out on others? Here's a suggestion. Have you considered killing yourself?"

Josuke suddenly stepped in. "Whoa there! Stop talking, right now! All of you!"

Everyone looked a bit uncomfortable, especially Natsuki and Monika.

"N-Natsuki, let's just go. I don't think she wants us around right now," Monika said nervously as the two of them head out the door.

Yuri called out to them as they left, "See, that wasn't very hard. All I want is to spend a little time with him. Is that so much to-?"

"What the hell, Yuri?" Josuke asked angrily.

Yuri smiles at him, her eyes still wide. "Finally! This is all I wanted."

"Are you listening to me? What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"There's no need to spend the weekend with Monika. Don't listen to her. Just come to my house instead."

"Like hell I will! You should never tell someone to kill themselves!"

Yuri began giggling maniacally. "Wow… There's really something wrong with me, isn't there? But you know what? I don't care anymore."

"You… You're insane…!"

"Just being with you is a far greater pleasure than anything I could imagine. I'm addicted to you. It feels like I'm going to die if I'm not breathing the same air as you. Doesn't it feel nice to have someone care about you so much?"

"I… I wouldn't call that caring about me…"

"But if it feels so good, then why does it feel more and more like something horrible is going to happen? Maybe that's why I tried stopping myself at first, but the feeling is too strong now. I don't care anymore, Josuke! I have to tell you!"

_You're the Stand user?!_

"I'm… I'm madly in love with you!"

Josuke's face fell. "… Huh?"

"It feels like every inch of my body… every drop of blood in me… is screaming your name. I don't care what the consequences are anymore! Please, Josuke, just know how much I love you. I love you so much that I even touch myself with the pen I stole from you."

He grimaced. _I preferred it when I wasn't reminded of that…_

"I just want to pull your skin open and crawl inside of you."

_Oh God… We might have the next Morioh serial killer here…_

"I want you all to myself, and I will be only yours. Doesn't that sound perfect? Tell me, Josuke. Tell me you want to be my lover. Do you accept my confession?"

"… Wha- Do I accept your confe- N-No! Hell no! You're crazy."

There was a moment of silence between the two of them. It was Yuri who broke the silence with a quiet chuckle. That chuckle turned into a giggle, then into a maniacal laughter.

_Did I do something wrong…?_

Yuri screamed with laughter as she pulled out a knife and drove it into her stomach.

Josuke froze. She had just stabbed herself in the stomach.

_Where did she even get that knife?_

She then pulled it back out, smiled evilly, and began to plunge it back into her soft flesh. Just before the knife made contact with her body again, Josuke unconsciously brought out Crazy Diamond.

"DORARARARA!"

The Stand punched the knife out of Yuri's hand with lightning speed, making it fly across the room. It then focuses more punches around the area that was damaged, healing it. Yuri's insane laughter was halted as the knife flew out of her hands and her wound was no more. She looked down at her body to see no trace of damage to herself or her uniform. She then looked back up at Josuke, terrified.

"Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-What did you just do?!"

His face had slowly adopted a look of anger. "You just tried to kill yourself so I healed you!"

Her legs began to tremble and she fell to the floor, breathing heavily. "This… This shouldn't happen. I… I just stabbed myself… Why am I okay? How am I okay?!"

Crazy Diamond went back into Josuke as he answered her. "I believe that you were affected by a Stand. You and I both."

"A… 'Stand'? What's a 'Stand'?"

"This is just great…" he sighed.

Just then, they heard three pairs of footsteps coming from the hallway.

_Did Monika and Natsuki get help? Wait… From who? What for?_

The door swung open and a boy in a familiar green school uniform, accompanied by a much taller boy and girl, ran into the room.

"Josuke!" Koichi yelled. "Are you alright?! You didn't call the café so we came here. We then saw screaming and-"

"Yuri!" Yukako called out as she ran over to her friend on the ground. "Are you alright?!"

"I… I…" Yuri fumbled with her words before tears began to roll down her face. "I tried to kill myself!"

All of them except Josuke were shocked to hear this. Yukako tried to comfort Yuri as she wept into her shoulder. Okuyasu reluctantly approached Josuke.

"Hey, man," he began. "… You okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine," Josuke responded.

There was silence in the room for a minute, save Yuri's sobbing.

"I'm sorry for telling you about Sayori…" Okuyasu said.

"… Were we close?" Josuke hesitantly asked.

"I mean, we knew her for about a week, but she was still fun to hang out with…"

"Heh… Did you like her?"

Okuyasu began to blush a little. "Wha- Di- Do- I- Ah! … Um… Maybe…"

Josuke smirked. His face fell before he asked a question. "Did you guys see Monika and Natsuki on your way in?"

"Uh… No, we didn't. Why?" Koichi answered then asked.

"Huh… Strange… They didn't leave too long before you guys showed up. They should have passed you, unless they ran or-"

The sound of a bone snapping was hear from out in the hallway. The three boys slowly stood up and peeked into the hallway. Near the end of the hallway, they saw a black and white figure dragging something along the ground.

Josuke blinked. "You guys saw that too, right?"

The others nodded. They went down the hallway to where that figure went after leaving Yukako alone in the room with Yuri. As they got to the end of the massive hallway, they saw that the room the figure had gone into was the music room.

"Well…" Koichi started. "Let's go."

Okuyasu and Josuke opened the double door entrance and they all gasped at what they saw. There at the end of the piano in the middle of the room was Natsuki's body… her head turned sideways at a ninety degree. Her mouth was drawn up like a wide grin and her eyes appeared to be crying blood.

All of them were frozen. Suddenly, the piano began to play. They looked up and saw who the pianist was.

The person playing the piano looked up and gasped in surprise before smiling sweetly.

"Ah! Josuke! You're just in time to hear my song. I, uh… wrote it for you…"

**-To Be Continued**


	13. Act 3

The invincible trio stood before the piano. The figure's presence was menacing.

"Monika…" Josuke muttered, his mouth wide open. "You…"

"You're the Stand user?" Koichi asked.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Okuyasu yelled, summoning The Hand. "Let's get her then! Come on, Josuke! Koichi!"

He charged forward, his Stand's hand beginning to glow. Koichi fumbled for a moment before he followed him with Echoes Act 3 brought out. Josuke just stood there, looking at her. Monika then began to trill the keys on the piano. Just then, an ear piercing scream was heard from the hallway. The two charging suddenly halted and looked towards the door.

Koichi's eyes widened. "YUKAKO!" He immediately bolted for the door and ran back down the hallway.

Okuyasu blinked and shook his head. "Josuke, you go help him out! I'll deal with her."

Josuke just stood there looking at Monika, like he wasn't paying attention to anything happening around him.

"Uh… Josuke?" Okuyasu slowly walked up to his friend, retracting his Stand, and waved his hand in front of his face. He then sighed and faced the doorway. "… Okay, I'LL make sure he's okay. YOU take care of her."

He then ran out of the room after Koichi, leaving Josuke in the music room alone with Monika and Natsuki's body. Josuke was in a daze just staring at Monika, completely shocked at the scene before him. Eventually, his eyes drifted down to see Natsuki's inhumanely positioned body. He blinked as he noticed a large hole in her chest, oozing blood.

_…_ _What? Why? Is Natsuki… dead…? No, Natsuki is dying… Wait… What am I doing?! NATSUKI IS DYING!_

"Crazy Diamond!" Josuke screamed as he shook his head, snapping him out of his daze.

"DORA!"

His Stand appeared and rushed forward to her limp body and immediately began healing her. It lifted her head upright so that her broken neck would be restored correctly. The smile on her body began to fade, and the hole in her chest began to close. Josuke then went up to Natsuki to check her pulse…

_…_ _Nothing._

He slammed his fist into the ground as the piano was being played.

"Dammit! … Why?! Why did this happen?! Not again! First Gramps, then Sayori, and now Natsuki…! I WAS TOO DAMN LATE!"

Josuke stood up and turned around, gritting his teeth and running a hand through his hair. His vision became blurry as his eyes began to water. He was suddenly reminded of the few people he had failed to save.

_Gramps with Aqua Necklace… Sayori hanging herself… now Natsuki with- Wait! … Sayori…?_

Josuke's eyes widened. He then turned around to see Monika, playing the piano and smiling.

"Sayori…" he muttered. "How could I forget Sayori…?"

His memories of the girl that got him to join the club came flooding back: walking to and from school with her, letting her keep one of his poems, being told about her depression, and… her ultimate self-inflicted demise. He covered his mouth with his hand as he perfectly remembered what she looked like as she hung in her room. Thinking of her eyes devoid of life and bloody fingers almost made him vomit. But then he remembered what he did after he tried to help her, who he ran after in a fit of rage, the one who just so happened to be playing the piano in the same room as him.

Josuke lowered his hand and curled it into a fist, his face darkening as he glared at the Club President. If looks could kill, she would have been completely obliterated.

"You…" he growled, his body flaring with Stand energy. "You told her to do it, didn't you?"

Monika giggled as she stopped playing for a moment. "Aw, don't be like that. It was all necessary, you know?"

Josuke snapped. "NECESSARY?! HOW IS TELLING YOUR FRIEND TO KILL THEMSELVES NECESSARY?!"

"I mean, I should thank her for initially bringing you to the club, but… well, Josuke… it was all to get to you."

"Bullshit!"

"Really! I've always wanted to meet you and Crazy Diamond!"

He blinked, finally registering what she and Okuyasu had both said. "… So, you're a Stand user?"

Monika smiled sweetly. "Yep!"

"YOU'RE the Stand user?! The one that's been messing with me ever since I joined the club?! You've been messing with Yuri and Natsuki too, right?!"

"Well, I wouldn't call it 'messing with you.' That wasn't entirely me. It may have been an effect though…"

"… What?"

"Hey, I think it's fair if I show you mine, since I already know everything there is to know about your Stand."

Josuke's eyes widened at what she said. _This is it. I'll finally get to see the Stand behind it all… maybe?_

Monika's body began to flare with Stand energy for a moment as a figure emerged from her. The figure was white and similar to her in shape. All along its body were music notes, ordered on lines like sheet music and a large eighth note connecting its eyes. But its arms were patterned like piano keys. It stood behind Monika and looked at Josuke, like it was studying him.

"Lana Del Rey."

* * *

"Yukako!" Koichi panicked as he entered the clubroom. "I heard screaming! What ha-?"

He froze for a moment before the horrific scene in front of him. There was his girlfriend sitting on the ground against the far wall, grasping her stomach where her uniform was stained with blood. Yukako was grimacing in pain as her hair began to rise and expand, ready to defend her from the other girl before her. With her back to the door, Yuri had a crazed smile on her face, her eyes wide and bloodshot. She appeared to be wielding two knives, one covered in blood from earlier and the other she must have retrieved from Josuke's bag.

Yuri let out a scream before charging at Yukako again. "He doesn't love me! He loves you, doesn't he?! How can he love you when you're dead?!"

"Echoes! Act 3!" Koichi rushed forward as his Stand appeared.

Once they had gotten within five meters of Yuri, the hand with the knife she was about to strike with immediately fell to the ground and left a crack in the floor.

"3 Freeze! Your hand is now stuck," Echoes Act 3 informed as it moved its hands to use its power. "S-H-I-T!"

Yukako looked up at her boyfriend. "K-Koichi…!" she said, slightly smiling as he had just saved her. She still looked terrified, having one of her only friends attempt to kill themselves and then try to kill her would not be something one forgets in one day. She then cried out in pain as she was slashed in the leg.

Yuri flailed her other hand with a knife in Yukako's direction. Yukako used her hair to try and hold her other hand in place. Yuri was visibly struggling to get her hands to move where she wanted, but her crazed expression remained.

"Act 3, can't you stop her other hand?" Koichi asked his own Stand.

"No. I can only stop one thing at a time. Only stopping her hand was necessary at the time," it replied.

"Well, why wouldn't you just stop her completely?!"

"It was not necessary. If you want me to stop all of her, I must first release her hand."

Koichi weighed his options. By stopping all of Yuri, she wouldn't be able to hurt anyone, but there would be a small window for her to seriously hurt Yukako. By leaving only her hand stopped, she could only attack with one hand, but her small attacks would eventually add up.

"The Hand!"

Yuri's body was suddenly shifted on the ground much closer to the doorway where two figures stood, one gray and blue with a glowing right hand. Okuyasu had used The Hand to scrape away the space between him and Yuri, but Yukako's hair had let go of her.

"The target is now more than five meters away from us," Echoes Act 3 stated.

Koichi's eyes widened as he looked at his friend and yelled, "Okuyasu, watch out! She might cut you!"

Okuyasu raised an eyebrow. "Huh? Didn't you just stop her?"

"The target is now more than five meters away from us," Echoes Act 3 repeated.

Before he could do anything, Yuri sat up and stabbed him in the thigh and shin with each knife. Okuyasu groaned in pain as his body reflexively twitched downward slightly. Then, his Stand pushed the crazy purple haired girl away from its user, taking the knives with her as she fell back to the ground.

Okuyasu backed up slightly and fell to his knees. "Damn… That hurts…"

At this time, Koichi and his Stand were helping Yukako stand up. "We'll get you to Josuke, don't worry. You too, Okuyasu… But first-"

"Why?" Yukako asked. "Why are you hurting them? I don't love Josuke, I love Koichi. So… why are you still trying to hurt us?" She looked at her friend on the ground.

Yuri was breathing heavily. For a moment though, it seemed like her crazed expression began to fade.

"I…" she whispered at first. "I… I don't…" Her wide-eyed smile returned. "CARE!"

She then flung one of her knives in Yukako and Koichi's direction. They both braced themselves since neither of their own Stands were able to move quick enough to block the incoming projectile at that time. Just before it had gotten very far, a loud noise was heard as the knife suddenly disappeared. The Hand was able to scrape it away.

Okuyasu smirked while he clutched his thigh which was hurting the most. "Still… I wonder where that thing went…"

Yuri's smiled disappeared as one of her knives just disappeared. "W-W-What? … How?"

"Yuri! Please stop it!" Yukako pleaded, her eyes tearing up.

The purple haired girl blinked and looked at the scene around her. A large crack in the floor, many upturned desks, someone clutching their wounds she inflicted, and… her own friend. Her own friend was hurt. She had hurt one of her only friends.

_Why? Why did I do it?_

The knife clattered as it fell to the ground while she covered her mouth with her hands. Yuri's eyes began to water as though she had just realized what she had done.

"I… I'm sorry," she muttered, her voice wavering. "I don't know… I'm sorry… There's something wrong with me…"

The two boys looked at her in confusion.

"I don't know why… I'm sorry."

She picked up the knife again. The others got ready for her to attack.

"I can't take it back… but I might be able to…"

Yukako's eyes widened.

"… Take back me."

Yuri then raised up the knife and stabbed herself in the stomach.

"NO!" Yukako screamed as she broke out of Koichi and Echoes Act 3's hold and ran to her.

Yuri pulled out the knife and plunged it into her stomach again.

Yukako stretched out her hair to try and grab the knife.

Finally, Yuri pulled it out again and drove the cold steel into her chest, entering her heart. A moment after, she collapsed while pulling the knife out of her latest wound.

"YURI! NO!" Yukako finally made it to her friend whose own uniform was almost completely red with blood.

Yuri looked up at her for a second and whispered, "I'm… sorry…"

"Y-Yuri…? Yuri? YURI?! YURIIIIIIII!" Yukako wailed as she hugged the bleeding body of her friend. "S-Someone! Go get Josuke!"

Koichi and Okuyasu were frozen in place for a moment before the former began to run out of the room and down the hallway to the music room.

"JOSUKE!"

* * *

"Mental Amplification," Monika said while retracting her Stand.

Josuke blinked. "What? What the hell does that mean?"

She sighed, "My Stand is able to amplify specific parts of someone's mind."

"Wha-? What do you mean by 'specific parts'? Explain, or I'll break it so you can never play piano again. And by 'it' I mean you."

Monika nervously giggled. "Eheh… Josuke, you wouldn't really hurt me, would you? But anyway, I'll gladly tell you."

He looked at her sternly and folded his arms. "Good, and don't try anything smart!"

"Yeah, I know… What I mean is… um… Well, name something strange that's happened to you?"

"I've been seeing things."

"Aha! That was Lana Del Rey amplifying your ability to daydream. They probably seemed really realistic, maybe they talked, right?"

_Whoa… That was her. Everything I saw… was because of her? … How though?_

"O-Oh…" Josuke looked at the ground, taking it all in. He then looked back up and asked, "W-What about the others?"

"Well, Sayori was pretty simple. She was already depressed so I just amplified her depression. She just happened to kill herself."

His eye twitched. "Bullshit! You told her to kill herself!"

"Yeah… I might have, but she became so depressed that she didn't know what to do. I just showed her the way."

"And Yuri?"

"Ooh… Now THAT was pretty interesting…"

Josuke gritted his teeth.

_How can she be talking about this so easily? Weren't they her friends?_

Monika continued, "I amplified multiple things about her: her forgetfulness too, her instability, her obsession with knives, and her honesty. I guess amplifying her obsession with knives might have caused her to cut herself, or maybe she already did that before I did anything to her."

"… What about me? I now know about you amplifying my… daydreams or whatever. But what about forgetting an entire week? Did you amplify my 'forgetfulness' or something?"

She smiled brightly and cheered, "Yep! That's right! And just now I amplified your ability to remember. That's another thing I love about you, Josuke. You're so smart!"

"A-Anyway, why?"

She raised an eyebrow and parroted, "Why?"

"Yeah, why make me forget a whole week?"

"… You were pretty mad at me last Monday… You did attack me and-"

He had looked down while she was talking, and he was reminded about Natsuki's current state.

"Did you do this to Natsuki?" he interrupted.

Monika blinked and stopped. She looked a bit nervous before answering, "… W-Well, I did amplify her forgetfulness too and her ability to repeat things I've said, and I-"

"Dammit, Monika! Did you kill Natsuki?!" Josuke snapped.

She was taken aback. His body was flaring with Stand energy, reminding her of Crazy Diamond's power. She swallowed before she answered him.

"… Y-Yes, but it's not related to what I want…"

He looked slightly confused while still appearing angry. "… What do you mean?"

"I wanted to make Natsuki a Stand user so she could protect herself from her dad. I didn't mean to kill her. She just… wasn't worthy…"

Josuke's memory of last Saturday, when Natsuki went over to his house and told him the truth, came flooding back to him. He clutched his head before he blinked and looked at her.

"What do you mean by 'make Natsuki a Stand user'? … How exactly did you plan on doing that?"

She began to sweat nervously.

"Eheh… I supposed this sort of relates to what I love about you the most…" Monika said while opening up the piano. She reached in near the lower strings and pulled out a long familiar object. She held it up. "It's a gift from my dad… just before he was killed…"

Josuke's mouth hung open at what he saw.

_…_ _The Arrow… That's why she had that hole in her chest… Hang on. Who was her dad?_

"You've probably wondering who my father was, right?" Monika said. "Well, I don't think you knew him very well, but he loved to travel around this town, especially last summer." She began to giggle slightly. "It's funny… He told me to protect this when he went to go help my brother, but my brother actually ended up killing him… I never really liked Dad, or my brother for that matter."

_How can she say all this with such a normal expression? She still hasn't even told me who… Her brother… killed her dad? The son killed his father… Arrow… That all must mean…_

"Yoshikage Kira," Josuke muttered, eyes wide in shock and fear.

Monika nodded. "Yeah… That's my brother…"

_…_ _I had no idea he had any other relatives. The photograph didn't have the arrow when he was hiding in Hayato's jacket…_

"I'm sure this is a lot to take in…" she sighed. "I'm really sorry for what he did to all of you. I never really liked him anyway…"

Josuke looked up at her. "How old ARE you? Yoshikage Kira was thirty-three, and you're in… high school?"

"Ah… Well… I have to blame my dad for that… Yoshikage and I were half-siblings. We had… different moms… I suppose that means I'm kind of like you, Josuke."

"H-Hey! Wha-How do you…!"

"Dad told me everything before he went back to my brother. He told me about his new ability, your father, Joseph Joestar, and even your nephew, Jotaro Kujo."

"… New ability? … You mean…"

"Yeah. Killer Queen's Third Bomb: Bites the Dust… I never knew that a Stand ability could do more when they use the Arrow again. Although…" She holds the Arrow close to her face and studied it. "It makes you wonder, what would happen if I tried to use it again?"

"Don't get any bright ideas! Why the hell are you just telling me everything? Don't you want to defeat me or something for stopping your dad and… half-brother?"

"D-Defeat you?" Monika gasped and set the Arrow down. "Oh God, no! Why would I want to do that? I should be thanking you!"

Josuke blinked. "… Thanking me?"

"Well, yes! You finally stopped my brother! I thought that he might never stopped and that he would just keep… you know… I never really knew him, but when I did meet him…" She shuddered. "He was really creepy. He never even looked me in the eye when we spoke. He just spent the whole time just… looking at my hands…" Monika closed her eyes. "I didn't realize what it meant by then… but now…"

Josuke grimaced, imagining the scene in his head.

She then shook her head and smiled sweetly. "A-Anyway, long story short… I love you, Josuke."

He looked up at her and blinked. "… Wha?"

Suddenly, screams were heard from down the hall. Josuke turned around to face the doorway.

"Yuri…" he muttered before facing Monika again and yelling. "What have you amplified this time?!"

She gasped, "Ah! U-Um, nothing other than-"

"Change it back. Now!" he interrupted.

"I… Fine."

Monika walked over and sat down by the piano. Josuke followed and stood behind her, Crazy Diamond next to him and ready for action. He noticed something odd about the sheet music.

_What the hell is this? This isn't like any music I've ever read before._

"What is that?" he asked.

"Hm? Oh, this?" she began. "It's the club member sheet."

"Why would you have that here?"

"It's… part of how my Stand works."

She then began to play while looking at the sheet, her Stand appearing behind her. Josuke's slightly agitated look began to fade when he heard her play. His mouth slowly curled up into a smile.

"Wow," he said dreamily. "You're amazing, Monika."

She blushed slightly. "Th-Thank you…"

Monika continued to play while Josuke pulled up a chair and sat down, his Stand fazing back into him.

_She's… She's beautiful… I've never heard anything sound so much sweeter… I wonder what it would be like… if I… was… with her… Just her… Just… Monika…_

Suddenly, Koichi burst into the room, almost out of breath.

"J-Josuke! Yuri's hurt! Badly!" he yelled.

"Yuri…" Josuke whispered emptily. "You should probably call an ambulance or something… Make sure it doesn't hit her, though."

Koichi looked at him confused. "Call an ambulance…? J-Josuke, YOU can help her! C'mon! NOW!"

"QUIET! Monika's playing," he snapped, putting his finger over his mouth.

Koichi's gaze shifted to Monika.

"You… You're the Stand user! You're the enemy! What have you done to Josuke?!"

Josuke stood up and said, "Koichi, if you're not going to be quiet, then I'm going to have to make you leave."

"Ugh… Act 2!"

Echoes Act 2 appeared and began to morph its tail letters into ' **BOOM!** ' It then launched it at the piano, in hopes of it hitting the one playing it. However, the tail letters were sent off course by a single punch from the side. Koichi looked surprised when he saw who it was that punched it.

"C-Crazy Diamond…" he muttered.

The Stand stood in front of its user as Josuke began to make his way over to Koichi.

"Don't you EVER…" he started angrily. "… Try to hurt Monika!"

"Josuke! You've obviously been influenced by her Stand somehow! Snap out of it, will you? You need to come help Yuri, Yukako and Okuyasu!"

"Pfft… I don't NEED to help them. What have they ever done for me, huh?

Koichi took a step back. "Wha-? They're our friends! Act 3, stop him so we can then deal with Monika!"

Echoes Act 2 suddenly darted over to Josuke and shifted into Act 3. It then began to rapidly attack him with quick, light punches. Crazy Diamond blocked the attacks with similar speed but with much more ferocity. At the same time, Koichi tried to make his way around the brawling Stands and disrupt Monika. He had correctly assumed that her Stand functioned in some way with playing the piano, so by damaging it somehow would no longer allow her ability to take effect. However, he was stopped by Josuke, who now stood between him and Monika.

"I love you, Josuke!" she called out smiling.

His face became red with embarrassment, his Stand's power slowly weakening. "O-Oh… Uh… I… I l-love… I love you t-too…"

Act 3 took advantage of this moment and began to strike Crazy Diamond in the chest. Suddenly, Crazy Diamond as well as Josuke fell to the ground from feeling a great amount of weight being put on them. The ground cracked as their bodies hit the floor, shaking slightly since they were on the second floor of the school.

"3 Freeze has taken effect," Echoes Act 3 stated.

Its user smiled. "Good job, Act 3! Now…"

Koichi ran over to Monika, a fierce look in his eyes. His Stand stood relatively far behind him, in order to still be in range for 3 Freeze to take effect.

"What have you done to him?! Did you do something to Yuri too?!" he screamed at the girl before him.

Monika scowled and looked at her 'sheet music.'

"Josuke, can you do something? H-He's making me uncomfortable," she whined with a stoic expression.

Josuke and his Stand's bodies began to rise slowly. They were still under the effects of 3 Freeze, but they were using what remaining strength they had to try and get up.

"Y-You…" Josuke started. "You stay away from her! She's done nothing wrong!"

He struggled to hold himself up, his arms giving way every so often to make him fall back to the floor. Although, his pained expression disappeared as his eyes met those of a pink haired girl, her body limp against the ground as if it were thrown there.

"… Who…? Who is that…?" he muttered.

Koichi noticed of the body as well and was surprised to see her injuries gone. His eyes widened and he took a step back, realizing what her unmoving body meant.

"… Did you make me forget her, Monika?" Josuke asked, looking at the girl playing the piano with a blank and soulless expression.

Monika immediately stopped playing. Her eyes widened while her hands slowly made their way to cover her mouth. Seeing him look at her like that brought tears to her eyes.

She stuttered for a moment, "J-… Josuke… I-"

The piano was suddenly shifted towards the doorway before it was smashed into pieces by a blue and gray figure.

"Heheheh… Just in time, again," Okuyasu said, propping himself up against the door frame as The Hand continued to destroy the piano.

Monika was left sitting in the middle of the room on the piano stool, now with no piano to use for Lana Del Rey's power.

"K-K-Koichi…! P-Please… Hard to… b-breathe…" Josuke squeaked as 3 Freeze's power got stronger.

Echoes Act 3 let off its power as its user went over to his friend to see if he was okay. When Okuyasu had demolished the piano to his heart's content, he limped over to his friends.

"Was that okay? Was her power something with the piano?" he asked nervously.

The other two laughed slightly.

Josuke answered him, "Yeah, you're good."

All of them then turned to face Monika who had now picked up the Arrow.

She looked extremely terrified as she asked, "J-Josuke… Do you love me…?"

"Monika…" he started quietly. "After all you've done, to me, you FRIENDS, probably this school… How could I?"

His words were like daggers to her heart. Her eyes went wide with shock. Josuke stood up and approached her.

"Why…? Everything I've done… It was all for you… I love you, Josuke…" Monika mumbled.

"You're… You're no different from your brother…"

Josuke's friends looked at him with confusion, Koichi's eyes widening when he assumed who they meant.

Monika was speechless as she clutched the Arrow. The boy she loved had just compared her to Yoshikage Kira, her serial killer half-brother.

"So… I guess it's okay to get her now…" Okuyasu said as he rushed forward with his Stand.

Just as Lana Del Rey appeared to defend its user, The Hand emerged and attacked. With a single punch from Okuyasu's terrifying Stand, Monika and her Stand were sent flying across the room and into the wall behind her. Dust flew as her body made an impact with the wall, her Stand fading. Josuke and Koichi looked surprised and startled. Crazy Diamond was unconsciously summoned and it began to approach the girl. Its user slowly followed.

He didn't have to say anything before what he was about to do next. The pink and cyan Stand pulled back its fists and unleashed a barrage of punches.

"DORARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARA!"

With its work complete, it fazed back into its user's body. Josuke turned and began to walk away.

Blood ran down Monika's face and arms while her body fell out of the hole in the wall and onto the ground. She coughed and gagged, tears mixing in with her dripping blood.

"I get it now… It's useless…" she muttered, gripping the Arrow even tighter. "All I want… is a life where I can be with you… But if I can't have that, then I want you to be happy… Josuke." She breathed heavily. "I would do whatever it takes for that to happen… even if that means a life…" Monika raised up the Arrow.

"Monika, NO!" Josuke screamed as he turned and tried to stop her.

"… Without me…"

Monika stabbed herself in the chest with the Arrow. Her body fell back onto the ground, her Stand appearing over her. It slowly began to unravel. Lana Del Rey's sheet music design began to cover everything. The walls, the floors, the ceilings, the broken pieces of the piano… The only things they could tell that were not covered in her Stand were Josuke, Okuyasu, Koichi and Monika.

"Wh-What's going on?!" Koichi panicked looking at the music notes appearing all around them.

"Is this her ability?!" Okuyasu asked.

"I… Uh… Monika…?" Josuke muttered.

She slowly closed her eyes and whispered, "Young and Beautiful…"

**-To Be Continued**


	14. Greater Days

The year was 1999 in Morioh, Japan. Things had mostly gone back to normal during autumn. However, even though Yoshikage Kira is gone, he had still affected many people in this town. Many families still waited for their loved ones to return, unaware of their unfortunate demise. Despite the serial killer's end, there are still those who wish to harm the residents of Morioh. And now, with Jotaro and Joseph gone back to their lives elsewhere, it is up to Josuke to protect his town.

"Hey! Rohan!" the 'town protector' yelled cheerfully as he ran up to the manga artist.

Rohan sneered as he heard his name being called by the kid that burned down half his house. He still wanted to get revenge on him somehow for that and for cheating in the game they were playing during the fire. He then turned around and said, "Ah, Josuke. What do you want? And where's Okuyasu?"

Josuke ran up next to him to walk with him, slightly out of breath. "Okuyasu wasn't ready yet so I went on without him, and I jus-"

He paused and blinked. Rohan did the same as they looked at each other in silence.

After a moment, the manga artist asked, "What happened? What have you done?"

"What have I- What? I… I don't…" Josuke stuttered, clutching his head.

"In the school, what happened?"

Josuke looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "… How did-?"

"I was waiting outside when Koichi and the others ran in."

"Why didn't you just come in?"

"I'm an adult. What reason would there be for an adult with no direct relations to enter a high school?"

Josuke nodded slightly in understanding. "Well… Monika… she…"

"She was the user? … Was she the club president?"

"Yeah…"

"What was the Stand? What did it do?"

"Uh… I think it was Lana Del Rey. It could amplify certain parts of someone's mind."

"Amplify…? How? Explain."

"Dammit, Rohan!" Josuke snapped. "I don't know everything! All I know is that-"

"Josukeeeee!" a voice called out.

He froze and looked behind him, only to be tackled into a hug by a figure. The figure was much smaller than him and appeared to be a girl. She had a large red bow in her short orangey-brown hair and wore a rather small unbuttoned blazer. Josuke looked down in surprise when he realized who was hugging him.

_Sayori…_

Rohan looked shocked as Josuke hugged her back.

"S-Sayori… You're okay!" he yelled in joy.

"Yep!" she giggled. "Thank you, Josuke!"

The taller high schooler blinked.

"… 'Thank'? What did I do?" he asked.

"You stopped her. You stopped Monika."

All their memories of the past two weeks came flooding back to them. Rohan went over to pick up a newspaper on the ground of a nearby house and checked the date.

"Josuke…" he started. "It's…"

The two stopped hugging and looked at him in confusion.

"What? What's wrong?" Josuke asked.

"The date. It's… two weeks ago."

"WHAT?!" he screamed.

Rohan dropped the newspaper and looked at the boy.

He asked in a stern voice, "Higashikata, what happened there?"

"I… I don't-"

"HEY!" another voiced called out behind them, appearing to be out of breath. "It's two weeks ago! Do any of you know what ha-?"

The voice belonged to none other than Okuyasu, who froze as soon as he saw the girl standing with them. His mouth hung open in shock, breathing heavily from running all the way from his house.

"You're…" he muttered. "You're okay…"

Sayori smiled brightly. "Yeah. I guess I have you to thank also, Okuyasu."

Okuyasu blushed slightly. Suddenly the school bell rung.

"AH!" Sayori screamed. "Come on, guys! We're gonna be late!"

The two high school boys blinked before beginning to run to the school.

"R-Right!" Josuke said before he looked back to Rohan. "Meet me here after school. I'll tell you the rest later."

And with that, the three of them ran off the school, leaving the manga artist by himself again.

He sighed, face-palming. "I suppose that means that I have to buy groceries again… And rewrite my manga…" He gritted his teeth. "AGAIN, Higashikata."

* * *

"Huff… huff… made it…" Sayori panted as they entered the school.

The halls were mostly empty as everyone had already gone to their first class.

Josuke looked at her, hands on his knees, and said, "We… We should… talk about this later. How about after… school?"

She and Okuyasu nodded in agreement. Josuke told Sayori to get the others and meet at a certain restaurant near the edge of town after he got Natsuki's address from her. She then went her separate way to her first class.

As the two Stand users made their way to class, one of them began to chuckle.

Josuke looked at him, confused. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing. I just thought…" Okuyasu began, smirking. "Since we remember what happened, or rather, what WILL happen… You know how we had taken a few tests and gone over the answers?"

A smirk now began to form on Josuke's face. "Oh yeah! We can ace the tests without even studying! Easy one hundred!"

They fist-bumped as they walked into the classroom.

* * *

"Remind me, why did you bring me here?" Rohan asked impatiently as he and Josuke stood in front of a house.

"I just need you to use Heaven's Door on this guy," Josuke said calmly.

Rohan sneered. "USE Heaven's Door? My Stand is not some common utility, unlike yours! I refuse. What do you even want me to write?"

"Rohan," Josuke said, looking at him dead in the eye. "This man beats his daughter and it has clearly affected her physical growth."

The manga artist took a step back, surprised to hear this. Even he had to admit, Josuke's intentions were almost noble. Going this far for a friend…

Rohan then sighed before asking, "And 'his daughter' was a member of the Literature Club, yes?"

The high schooler nodded as he knocked on the door. Banging and clinking could be heard from inside as they assumed someone was making their way to the front door. It opened, and standing in front of them was a man much taller than them both with a five o'clock shadow.

Josuke began to sweat nervously. _Dang… This guy is a lot bigger than I thought._

He gulped before asking, "U-Um… Is your daughter Natsuki? About this tall, with pink hair…?"

The man looked at them angrily and spoke with a gruff voice. "So what if she is?"

Josuke looked to Rohan and nodded.

The manga artist sighed before activating his Stand. "Heaven's Door!"

The man standing in the doorway's face opened up like a book and he fell down on his back. Rohan kneeled by his face, pen at the ready.

"So, what should I write?" he asked.

"Just make sure he never even thinks about hurting Natsuki," Josuke said coldly.

Rohan then wrote, ' **Will never harm my daughter, Natsuki** ' before pausing. After looking inside the house to see trash and empty bottles everywhere, he then added, ' **Will clean up my house**.' Rohan stood up and went back to standing next to Josuke as Natsuki's father's face closed. The man slowly sat up and clutched his head.

"Ah…" he grumbled, getting to his feet with the help of the door frame. "I don't care what you're selling. I'm not buying. Now if you excuse me, I have some housecleaning to do."

The man slammed the door in the Stand users' faces. They turned around and began to head for the restaurant. Josuke looked at Rohan and smiled.

"Thanks, Rohan."

"Hmph. You still owe me for my house."

Josuke's mouth hung open wide. "Whaaat? I think if anything, you owed me! If it wasn't for you messing with me, we wouldn't have gotten involved in this mess!"

"Well, you shouldn't have acted so oblivious during that game!"

"You didn't have to put me in this traumatic situation, though!"

The two of them argued as they eventually made their way to Trussardi's.

* * *

"So, you just… woke up?" Okuyasu asked.

"Yeah… But I do remember… You know…" Sayori sighed sadly.

Three of the Morioh Stand users and members of the Literature Club were sitting at a table in Tonio Trussardi's restaurant. All of them were looking down at the table, none of them really knowing what to say at that moment. Okuyasu had tried to start up some sort of conversation, but his confidence was severely limited due to the present three incredibly cute girls of the Literature Club.

Tonio Trussardi suddenly appeared with everyone's food. Everyone looked at what he had brought since none of them knew what they would be getting. All but Okuyasu complained about not getting to choose their meals when the chef had first appeared. Koichi, Sayori and Yuri were intrigued by the originality of the establishment's procedure, but Natsuki and Yukako seemed rather defiant to the idea.

They were mostly amazed by the presentation, but they were all secretly glad of the same thing. The silence between them was unsettling, and with their food arriving they now had something to do while they waited for the one who brought them all together.

A minute after, Josuke entered the restaurant with Rohan following. He noticed the cluster of his friends at a table near the corner. This might have been the largest table in the restaurant, but even so it only just managed to fit the extra chair brought in.

"Welcome back, sir," Tonio said, bowing slightly. "Shall I prepare something for you?"

"Nah, I'm fine. Oh, I would like a cappuccino though!" Josuke answered.

The chef nodded and turned to the manga artist. "And would you like anything today?"

Rohan shook his head. "No, thank you. I won't be here very long. I've got a plane to catch."

Koichi looked up at him. "Rohan, you're going away?"

"Correct! After listening to what Tonio has told me about Italy, I have decided to visit there myself. I'm going to study its culture in person and possibly use that as inspiration for my manga."

Natsuki perked up, quickly swallowing her mouthful of spaghetti. She spoke in an uncharacteristically nervous tone when she asked, "A-Are you… THE Rohan Kishibe?"

Rohan looked at her and thought to himself. _This must be Natsuki, the girl whose father… Right._

"Yes I am!" he stated proudly.

The Stand users groaned while Natsuki beamed, the other two girls looking at each other confused.

"I-I'm a huge fan of your work!"

"You're welcome."

She raised an eyebrow. "Eh? What for? I haven't even thanked you for anything yet."

"You'll understand it eventually."

Natsuki looked at Josuke, who just rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Hang on, Rohan," Okuyasu started. "You didn't go to Italy two weeks ago…"

Rohan sighed. "I just want a break from you imbeciles. I had finally rewritten most of the manga that I had lost in the fire, but then whatever just happened HAPPENED! You all can tell me about it in detail later. Farewell."

He then left the restaurant to pack for his trip. He also had to drive to the airport in S City where his flight departed.

Josuke sat down as Tonio poured him a glass of water. Once the chef had walked off, Natsuki piped up.

"Okay, is it just me, or does everyone else feel REALLY good?"

All but Josuke nodded.

"That's why this restaurant is so great!" Okuyasu exclaimed. "His Stand makes the food he prepares have healing properties for those who eat it."

The girls looked at him in confusion while the other Stand users cringed.

"His… 'Stand'?" Yuri asked.

Josuke sighed, "Yeah… I suppose that I should give an explanation."

He looked around the table at everyone, but he did a double-take when he noticed that they were missing one.

"Hang on, where's Monika?" he asked. "I didn't see her at school today."

The club members looked despondent.

"Does anyone know where she is?" Josuke asked again.

They shook their heads.

"Josuke…" Sayori began. "Why... Why did she do it? H-How did she do it?"

He blinked before answering, "I… Well, I know for sure that she was a Stand user."

"And what exactly IS a 'Stand user'?" Natsuki interrupted before pausing to think. "… Are you a Stand user, Josuke?"

The Stand users looked surprised.

"I remember what happened. That Sunday when I went over to your place, you… did something to my injuries, didn't you? Same with that first Wednesday"

Josuke paused for a moment. Then he took Okuyasu's empty glass and threw it on the ground, shattering it. Everyone jumped in surprise.

"J-Josuke! Why would you do that?!" Sayori asked him, incredulously.

The Joestar descendant then picked up one of the glass pieces and said, "Crazy Diamond."

Josuke's Stand began to use its power on the piece of glass, making the other pieces float up and restoring it to how it was before he threw it. The three girls looked at the glass in disbelief.

"… How did…?" Yuri muttered, dumbfounded.

"You're right, Natsuki. I am a Stand user, and I've named it Crazy Diamond," Josuke stated calmly, placing the glass back on the table.

"H-Hey," Koichi whispered to his friend. "Should we really be telling them about this?"

"Koichi, they've all been affected by a Stand. They deserve an explanation about what happened. It won't exactly do any harm."

The boy in the green uniform hesitantly nodded then sat back in his seat.

Josuke continued, "Every person has a different Stand, and each Stand has a different ability. For example, Crazy Diamond has the ability to fix things. It can repair a broken glass and even heal someone's wounds, although I cannot use it on myself."

Yuri looked at the unfamiliar faces. "So… You're Stand users too?"

Then Koichi and Okuyasu nodded hesitantly. Tonio began to approach the group.

"Excuse me, sir. While I am aware that you can... repair broken things, could you please refrain from doing that again?" he asked politely.

Josuke replied, "O-Of course. Sorry."

Tonio then walked off and went back into the kitchen.

Sayori pointed in the chef's direction and asked, "So is he, right?"

"Yeah," Okuyasu confirmed. "But Pearl Jam doesn't make the food taste good. That's just Tonio's amazing cooking skills!"

"And… you?" Natsuki asked, pointing at Koichi. "What can you do?"

"Uh… I kind of have three different abilities, but I usually use the one that makes things feel really heavy. That's Echoes Act 3," he answered nervously.

It was his first time meeting two of these girls, and he had just now explained what his Stand does to them.

Yuri's gaze then focused on Yukako. "… You too?"

"… Yeah," she answered, looking down on the table. There was a moment of silence before Yukako added, "Love Deluxe… I-It's my hair."

The three club members jumped in surprise as her hair began to rise on its own. Sayori then nervously looked at Okuyasu in the eye, silently asking him to speak as well.

He squirmed in his seat before muttering, "The Hand. Its right hand can scrape something out of existence, but I have no idea where it ends up…"

Yuri raised an eyebrow. "… Was that you? When my… knife disappeared…?"

He nodded. "Yeah…"

She looked back down and shuddered, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "E-Everyone…?"

They all looked at her, making her feel even more embarrassed.

"I… I just want to say… I'm sorry. I… I don't know what came over me last week, or… whenever. The time that I…"

Yuri began crying softly, covering her face with her hands. Yukako, who was sitting next to her, tried to comfort her by rubbing her back. To her surprise, her hand was swatted away.

"Don't touch me!" Yuri wailed. "I… I'm a monster... I hurt you all."

Sayori slowly turned to Okuyasu and silently asked if that was true. He closed his eyes and nodded his head, remembering the pain he felt from being stabbed in the legs.

Yuri continued, her voice wavering, "I c-can't… control myself anymore. I… I shouldn't be here."

"Yuri, it's alright," Yukako said calmly. "I… I forgive you."

"Yeah!" Natsuki added. "It doesn't really matter anymore anyway..."

"It wasn't your fault," Josuke added.

"How could it not be?!" Yuri screamed. "If not me, then who?! Who else could be-?"

"Monika."

The girls froze and looked at him, Yuri's body still shivering as tears continued to flow.

"It was all Monika. Just Monika," he explained. "Your actions… all of you… Everything that you had done since I joined, it was Monika."

Natsuki sat wide-eyed before she nervously asked, "… Was… Was she a… you know…?"

Josuke nodded. "Her Stand was called Lana Del Rey."

The other boys looked at him. Neither of them had known what the enemy Stand was capable of.

"Monika said… its ability was mental amplification."

Okuyasu blinked. After a moment he asked, "What does that mean?"

Josuke looked down and sighed, "Honestly, I'm not too sure. When I was alone in the music room with her, she said it was able to amplify certain parts of someone's mind."

Yuri had mostly composed herself at this point. She wiped her face with the sleeve of her blazer.

"So, certain parts like what? Did she amplify something about me?" she asked quietly.

He nodded. "She said that she amplified your instability, obsession with knives and honesty… which is probably why you said those crazy things."

Yuri put her head down on the table, clutching her head. The amount of regret she felt was beginning to hurt her physically.

"What about me?" Sayori piped up.

Josuke began to sweat nervously. He wasn't used to being the one to explain everything, which usually fell to either his dad or nephew when it came to Stands.

"She… amplified your depression. I believe that, mixed with what she told you, made you… do it."

Sayori put her hand to her chest and breathed in. It seemed like no one other than Josuke and Sayori understood what they were talking about.

"Um… I don't know if you remember what happened, but…" he paused to gulp. "I was… too late to save you, Sayori. Crazy Diamond couldn't..."

A pained expression crossed over Okuyasu and Koichi's faces. The girls looked at Josuke, confused. Sayori, though, looked at Josuke with an unidentifiable expression.

"O-Oh…" she muttered. "… Thank you, Josuke… At least you cared…"

Natsuki then decided to speak. "What do you mean you were too late? Did you get hurt?"

Sayori nervously began to look around while Josuke slightly grimaced.

"Um… Well, sort of. I… I… actually… h-hung myself...," Sayori trailed off, sinking into her seat.

Yuri and Natsuki gasped. Koichi, Okuyasu and Yukako looked at everyone the others at the table, concerned and somewhat alarmed.

"I probably know when Monika did it, too…" Josuke added.

They reluctantly looked at him.

"Her Stand somehow worked by playing the piano. You remember all of those days when Monika came to the club late, saying she was playing the piano?"

The club members' eyes widened, Yuri covering her mouth and Natsuki sinking into her seat.

"Why?" Koichi asked. "Why did she even do this?"

Josuke blinked. _Great. It would sound pretty weird to say it was just because she had a crush on me, but…_

"She… wanted to thank me for… helping defeat her brother, or half-brother…"

"Her… brother?" Natsuki asked. "I didn't know she had one. Did you guys know?"

She looked to her fellow club mates, who shook their heads.

"Thank you?!" Yuri said in disbelief. "H-How could ruining our lives just so she could 'thank you' be the only course of action? Why couldn't she just do it while you two were sharing poems?!"

_Oh well. I might as well tell them the real reason._

"Sh-She said that she was... in love with me..." Josuke stated nervously.

The others looked surprised and confused. The club members seemed to be a bit saddened by this.

He continued, "But it all comes from her brother. She said that she loved me because I helped stop him, and I suppose... she didn't want anyone to get in her way."

Yuri and Sayori appeared to be somewhat frightened by this while Natsuki gritted her teeth and turned away.

"Who was her brother? Anyone we knew?" Okuyasu asked before drinking some water.

"Yoshikage Kira," Josuke said, staring at the center of the table.

The other Stand users flinched upon hearing that name, Okuyasu spitting out his drink.

"WHAT?! KIRA?! He had a sister?!" he yelled, water dripping onto his uniform.

The girls, save Yukako, didn't know what to make of this. None of them had ever heard of him, and neither have more than half the people in Morioh for that matter.

"Sh-should we know who that is?" Yuri asked nervously, slightly scared of the answer since it made her friend Yukako react the way she did.

There was a moment of silence before Koichi answered her, keeping his voice low.

"Yoshikage Kira was a serial killer here in Morioh."

Natsuki then, in an attempt to lighten up the mood, said jokingly, "W-Well, it's not like you actually knew him or anything…"

"Actually, we did, sort of..." he stated as he folded his arms.

The three non-Stand users looked at them, alarmed.

"He had killed numerous people over the course of fifteen years," Josuke started. "And he got away with it. Every. Single. Time. No witnesses, no weapons… no bodies."

The girls shivered just thinking about it. Although she was frightened by the idea of someone who had done that living in the same town as her, Yuri was still intrigued.

"H-How… How did he get away with it?" she hesitantly asked.

Josuke answered, "He was a Stand user with one of the most deadly abilities ever: it was able to turn anything it touched into a bomb."

Yuri covered her mouth. The thought of a person being able to do something so dangerous at will was both terrifying and interesting to her.

"So… Monika's brother was a… serial killer?" Natsuki asked.

Josuke said, "Yeah… But even she was afraid of him. She actually thanked me for helping defeat-"

"What was that gold thing?" she interrupted him. "I remember… Monika stabbed me with something."

Her friends gasped in surprise.

She continued, "I know that it was gold… Was that her Stand or something?"

"… No, that wasn't her Stand," Josuke began. "That was the Arrow. I think you would be able to describe it better, Okuyasu. After all, you know more about it since it was once in possession of your bro-"

Josuke flinched and stopped himself from continuing, immediately regretting the words he spoke. Okuyasu had a blank expression on his face before he shook his head.

"It's alright," he said quietly. "I'm basically over it. Plus, it's not like you were trying to rub it in or anything…"

The others looked at him, concerned. Sayori, Yuri and Natsuki correctly assumed that his brother had passed away based on his reactions.

"Anyway, the Arrow is a pretty weird thing," Okuyasu started with a more cheerful tone. "All it really does is it turns whoever is hit by it, and survives, into a Stand user. We weren't really sure where it came from, other than some old lady in Egypt."

Natsuki blinked for a moment before grinning widely. "D-Does this mean that I'll become a Stand user?"

"Uh, I don't think so…" Josuke said.

"Eh? How come? I got hit with it, didn't I? Didn't you guys see it?"

"Yeah… About that… You didn't exactly…"

"I didn't exactly what? I didn't get a Stand fast enough, or-? Oh… It's because that never really happened now or something, right?"

"Well, that, and you didn't exactly… survive…"

She froze. Her memory of what happened in the music room was quite limited. She remembered being stabbed in the chest then dragged into the music room and thrown against the piano. After that…

"O-Oh… Alright then."

The restaurant was quiet. It was a pretty slow day at Trussardi's so they were the only ones there. That was quite lucky of them since they were talking about some rather unsettling things which would seem like nonsense to an outsider.

After what seemed like a year, Yuri finally spoke.

"So… At some point… each one of us… died?" she muttered.

Sayori and Natsuki looked at her with an alarmed expression, unaware of Yuri's knife frenzy after the last club meeting.

"I'm sorry, everyone," Josuke announced.

They all turned to look at him.

"All of this… it was my fault."

"W-What? How is it your fault? You said it yourself, it's all Monika!" Sayori reassured him, trying to put a hand on his shoulder.

"Well, I still could have been able to do something!" he snapped, making her reel back her hand. "You've seen what I could do with Crazy Diamond! I could have been able to save you all, but I was just… too… damn… late."

He covered his face with his hand and hunched over the table. Yuri had a determined look on her face.

"Josuke, it's alright," she said.

"Like hell it is! I failed to save you all… I failed to save my friends…"

"Well… you did save me, didn't you?"

"Not in the end, though."

"… Josuke, none of that even happened anymore. We're fine. Sayori is fine, Natsuki is fine, and I'm fine."

He looked up at the purple haired girl slowly.

"What you're doing right now, it's probably what Monika would have wanted."

Josuke blinked and raised an eyebrow.

"Your friends told me that you were seeing things, things that made you scared. That, mixed with what you're doing now, was all probably part of Monika's plan to get you to be with her."

"That sounds awful," Koichi muttered. "But it makes sense for someone related to Kira to do something so bad…"

Josuke rubbed his eyes. "You're… You're right, Yuri. Thanks."

She smiled at him nervously, as did everyone else.

"H-Hey, Josuke," Sayori spoke after some time, making him look at her.

"Yes?" he replied.

"We… We're not childhood friends, are we?"

Yuri and Natsuki looked alarmed as they turned to him in confirmation.

Josuke sighed, "Yes. That's true."

"… That's what I thought," the girl with a bow in her hair muttered. "But why? Why did I think that?"

"Rohan," Okuyasu stated with a scornful expression.

"What? Rohan? What did he do?" Natsuki asked.

"He used his Stand on you two to mess with Josuke."

Josuke and Sayori's eyes went wide.

"Why did he want to do that?" Yuri asked, quite surprised to hear this.

"Yeah! And what's his Stand do?" Natsuki added.

"Uh, I don't really remember, but I know he used Heaven's Door to make you guys believe that you were friends or something," Okuyasu responded.

"And his Stand…?" the pink-haired girl repeated, slightly agitated.

"Rohan's Heaven's Door is able to turn people into books, where he can read about their whole life as well as being able to rewrite things," answered Koichi, who shuddered in memory of his face opening up.

"Again… why?" Sayori asked, looking down at the table.

"He still blames me for burning down his house which makes no sense," Josuke said. "So I guess… this could also be considered to be his fault for all this."

Once they had all finished their meals, Koichi suggested that they meet up some other time since there was a lot to take in from just this one sitting.

"Y-Yukako...?" Yuri muttered as they were now standing outside of Trussardi's.

The female Stand user turned to face her friend.

"I-I'm sorry," the purple-haired girl continued. "I'm sorry that I pushed you away, that I pushed all of you away. While the past two weeks never happened, or whatever, I don't think that I will ever be able to forgive myself..."

She looked down as her eyes began to water. Noticing this, Yukako quickly scooped her up into a hug. Yuri gasped initially, but she soon relaxed and put her arms around her friend.

"I forgive you," the Stand user whispered. "Like Josuke said, that wasn't you. I would understand it if you ever needed some space, but... You're one of my only friends. I... I can't imagine a world where you aren't in it."

The two continued to hug for some time, both of them crying softly. Koichi smiled, seeing just how caring his girlfriend is for her friends. Eventually, they broke the hug and wiped their eyes.

Yukako then spoke softly, "So... I'll see you at lunch tomorrow?"

Yuri sniffled and smiled. "Y-Yes. I'd like that."

Then Okuyasu, Koichi and Yukako began to walk back to their homes after waving goodbye to the others.

"I guess I'll see you guys tomorrow?" Josuke asked the three girls before him.

The four of them stood there in silence for a moment as the sun began to set. A moment later, Sayori gingerly approached him. Josuke looked at her, confused and slightly nervous.

Much to his surprise, she hugged him. He didn't know what to think or do at that moment. Seconds after, Natsuki and Yuri joined in the hug. His surprise only increased after that.

During the embrace, Sayori said, "You wanted the best for us..."

"You were always there to help us..." Natsuki added.

"A-And you were willing to listen and put up with us..." Yuri also added.

Then all three of the whispered, "Thank you, Josuke… for everything."

Josuke's body shuddered for a moment. A long overdue tear began to roll down his face. He returned the hug. For them, it felt like an eternity had passed during that hug as they each recalled the past two weeks that never were.

Eventually, they peeled themselves off of him one-by-one. They walked away from him a bit before they turned around to see him again.

"I'll see you tomorrow then. Maybe we can even start a new club of our own!" Sayori said smiling brightly.

"Heh. If we did that, you'd have to put in a LOT more effort! You think you're up for it?" Natsuki said smirking.

"I-I'd be willing to help out if all of you will, too," Yuri added smiling.

They then waved him goodbye as they turned around to go home. Josuke stood there for a second.

He then wiped his face and began to wave and shout back, "Y-Yeah! You guys can count on it! I'll be there!"

Josuke turned around and began to walk home, smiling to himself.

_This is great._

* * *

"Hey, Police," Koichi greeted his dog as it was lying in its bed near the front door.

"Ah, Koichi, you're back!" his mother greeted him. "Someone called earlier. They asked for you. I wrote down the number next to the phone."

"Oh? Thanks."

He set down his bag and went over to the phone and dialed the number. He then went into the other room as it rang, unsure of who it was that called.

Finally, someone picked up and answered. "Yeah?"

"U-Um… This is Koichi Hirose. Who is this?" he asked nervously.

"Ah, Koichi. Good. It's Jotaro."

"J-JOTARO?! W-What's the problem?! Do you need help?!"

"Good grief, calm down. There's no problem, or at least none that concern you now."

"O-Oh, well… How can I help?"

"I need to know if I can trust you."

Koichi blinked. "H-Huh? Of course you can trust me. Are you sure there's nothing wrong?"

"It's fine, Koichi. I just needed to know if I can trust you because the Speedwagon Foundation may have gotten a lead on an enemy Stand user."

"O-Oh. Wait, what does that have to do with me?"

"We might have to send you to look for them."

He gulped. The thought of going away to find a Stand user with an ability that he doesn't even know scared him. Although he was more worried about possibly missing school and getting behind in his classes.

Jotaro continued, "I'm sure you're worried, but they're not completely sure. They just found a clue, no evidence and no location. It may take a while before they even get a location."

Koichi sighed in relief.

"Okay? That's it. Goodbye."

"W-Wait, Jotaro! Don't hang up! I need to tell you something!"

Jotaro paused before hanging up. "I'm listening."

"Josuke, Okuyasu and I believe that we have encountered the half-sister of Yoshikage Kira."

Jotaro flinched. "… There aren't any records of anyone else that closely related to him. Are you sure about this?"

"Yes, I'm positive! Josuke joined the Literature Club at school and he had a bunch of strange things happen to him, but it turns out it was all from Monika, who had the Arrow, and her Stand, Lana Del Rey, which could-"

"Stop. I believe that it would be best if I came back to investigate this in person."

"R-Really? How soon? A week?"

"No. Probably not for another year."

"A YEAR?!"

"Yeah. There's been a power outage at one of the Speedwagon Foundation's facilities. It was the one where they kept some rock under ultraviolet light. My grandfather claims to have fought this rock, but I believe that he's just going senile. I'm going over there to investigate that first."

"Oh… Well, good luck with that."

"Is that all, Koichi?"

"Uh… yeah."

"I see. Take care."

And then the line went dead, leaving Koichi alone with his thoughts of where he might be sent to find a Stand user.

_…_ _Maybe Italy would be a cool place to visit… That or France._

* * *

That night, Josuke was not able to sleep very peacefully. He had a rather bizarre dream…

* * *

Darkness.

There was nothing around him. He was alone in a void of pitch-black. He didn't know what to think or do. Josuke tried pinching himself to wake him up, but to no avail.

"Uh, can you hear me?" a voice asked, echoing all around.

Josuke looked around franticly. The voice was feminine and sounded oddly familiar to him.

"W-Who's there?!" he yelled while turning.

The voice seemed to clear her throat. "Hi! It's me."

Josuke blinked, genuinely having no idea who it could be.

"Um… So, you know how I've been, like, practicing piano, and stuff…? And not really any good at it yet. Like, at all. But… I wrote you a song."

He furrowed his brows before his eyes went wide.

"Monika…"

The voice continued, "And I was kind of hoping that I could show it to you…"

Then, Monika slowly began to fade into view with a piano next to her.

"You see, I worked really… REALLY hard on it," Monika said gently, idly playing a few keys. "So… yeah!"

Josuke gritted his teeth and curled his hands into fists. "You… Crazy Diamond!"

Nothing happened. Josuke blinked, wondering why his Stand wasn't appearing, while Monika just looked at him and smiled sweetly.

"Yeah, that won't work here…" she said calmly.

He looked back at her and yelled, "What did you do?! How are you here?!"

She giggled. "Oh, Josuke. How could I ever lie to you, my love?"

Josuke grimaced and shook his head. "'L-Love'?! I wouldn't go on a date with you if my life depended on it!"

Her smile faded for a moment, but it quickly returned when she spoke. "Ouch… Well… I'm sorry for what I did to you. All I wanted was to be with you, but… in the end… I only wanted you to be happy."

He raised an eyebrow. "For me to be happy? What are you talking about?"

Suddenly, Lana Del Rey rose from Monika's body. The Stand's menacing gaze piercing through Josuke. He flinched and took a step back, unsure of how to fight a Stand when he could not use his own.

Monika turned her head to see her Stand. "After I stabbed myself with the Arrow… Lana Del Rey got a new ability… Heh. What a coincidence that Yoshikage and I had the same thing happen to us. They're also kind of similar, our new abilities…"

Josuke eyes were wide in fear. "W-What ability did you get? Wait… You got a time rewind, too?!"

Memories of what Hayato had told him about Bites the Dust flooded his mind when he considered the similarities between that and what had just happened.

"Not quite," Monika sighed. "Lana Del Rey: Young and Beautiful appears to be a one-use ability, rewinding time much further at the cost of... After what you said to me, I thought that your life would be better without me… I just wanted you to restart, live your life without me, so that I hadn't done anything to anyone…"

She looked down and put a hand to her chest. "I never really used Lana Del Rey on anyone before I met you. I had always known that I had it, and I knew how it worked… But it never felt necessary, until recently."

Josuke looked at her with concern. "Monika…"

She then wiped her face and smiled brightly. "Anyway… Before I go, I'd like to show you my song!"

Monika sat down at the piano, Lana Del Rey fazing back into her. Josuke blinked and took a step closer.

"What's it called…?" he asked hesitantly.

"Oh! Um… It's called _Your Reality_ ," she stated, blushing as she played a few keys before beginning.

Monika then began to play. It was quite similar to what she played in the music room on that horrific Friday that never was. Josuke was finally able to listen to her play without being under the influence of her Stand. After a moment, she began to sing.

" _~Every day, I imagine a future where I can be with you~_ "

" _~In my hand is a pen that will write a poem of me and you~_ "

" _~The ink flows down into a dark puddle~_ "

" _~Just move your hand – write the way into his heart!~_ "

" _~But in this world of infinite choices~_ "

" _~What will it take just to find that special day?~_ "

" _~What will it take just to find… that special day?~_ "

Monika had finally finished playing her song. She slowly turned around to face Josuke.

"So… What do you think?" she asked, blushing slightly.

Josuke stood there, speechless, for a moment. His mouth then slowly curled up into a smile.

"It's… great," he said plainly.

Monika smiled brightly while blushing profusely. Although, her smile slowly began to change from bright to incredibly pained. Tears began to form in Monika's eyes.

"Goodbye, Josuke… I'll always love you."

He looked at her, confused. Suddenly, the black void around them began to change into sheet music, much like Lana Del Rey's pattern. His eyes widened as he took a step back. Josuke cast one last glance at Monika, who just smiled and waved, tears rolling down her face.

The music notes began to move along the lines very quickly. Before he could react any further, the sheet music pattern began to implode on him.

* * *

"MONIKA!" Josuke screamed while sitting up, breaking out in a cold sweat.

He blinked and franticly looked around him. He was in his bed in his room. He hurriedly jumped out of bed ran to the kitchen. The radio was on, and it announced that it was Wednesday.

_Wednesday…? That means…_

Josuke looked up at the clock and saw it read 7:45. He slapped his hand against his head.

"I'm late!" he cried as he ran off to get himself ready for the day.

He was just combing his hair when he heard a loud knocking on his front door. He grabbed his bag and franticly made his way over to answer the door. When Josuke opened it, he saw his friends, Okuyasu and Sayori, standing there, idly chatting to one another. The boy had a faint amount of redness dusted across his cheeks as he spoke to her.

The two of them stopped and turned to face him.

"What took you so long, man?" Okuyasu asked. "You're the one who's usually up before me!"

Sayori looked concerned. "Are you okay, Josuke? You're not feeling down, are you?"

Josuke rubbed the back of his head. "N-No, I'm fine. Sorry, guys. I just had a pretty strange dream…"

"Well, you can talk about your dream later! We're actually going to be late this time!" Okuyasu interrupted him.

"Okuyasu…" the girl began. "It's not that bad. We're not that late."

Suddenly, the clock in Josuke's house began to chime, signifying that it was eight o'clock. They also faintly heard the school bell ring at the same time.

Sayori began to sweat nervously and said, "I, uh… I take it back. We ARE that late!"

Josuke began to chuckle lightly before slinging his bag over his shoulder.

"Jeez… Well, let's go." he said.

The three of them then took off running towards the school.

**Crazy Noisy Bizarre Club: End**

* * *

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for the Author's Note where stuff will be explained. Don't forget to leave a review!


	15. Author's Note

Hi, everyone!

Crazy Noisy Bizarre Club is finally done! I want to thank everyone for all of the support while I was writing this story. This was my first published fanfic and I personally liked the way that it turned out. I hope that you all did too! :)

I also wanted to take this time to explain my reasoning for the questionable events that took place and to address some slightly confusing parts of the story.

First off, I wrote this story sometime after I finished playing the game (Yuri best). The game itself is amazing. I can't think of any other game like it. It is extremely effective at being a psychological horror game since it betrays you with the type of game it is. It, of course, opens up as being another anime dating simulator on Steam, but as it goes on it becomes a thrilling emotional ride of chaos.

I've never had a game make me feel genuine emotions like that. When I played Doki Doki Literature Club, I actually felt guilt, fear, anger and an overwhelming amount of regret. I was left thinking about it for almost an entire week after playing it. I felt guilt when I saw Sayori hanging, but I now feel a bit better knowing that there was no way of avoiding it. I also felt that when Yuri stabbed herself in Act 2. I also felt frustrated with the main character for barely reacting to the events that took place, but I suppose that was on purpose since the player would be giving their own reactions in real life.

And I felt anger. This game made me feel genuine anger. It wasn't like being frustrated with a game where you can't get past a level or beat a boss so you throw your controller across the room. I felt genuine hatred towards Monika. She basically ruined her friends' lives, even ending them, just so she could be with the player. I'll explain more about Monika later in this.

I am a huge fan of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (Steel Ball Run best Part). I love how each part is completely different from each other, and I love its original art style. The entire concept of Stands is my favorite type of supernatural power. I also like how the Stands are usually referencing music, which sometimes translates into their design and/or ability.

Out of every part, I found Josuke in Diamond is Unbreakable to be the most relatable of the JoJo's. Part 4 had a very interesting story telling aspect where everything took place in the town of Morioh, which is different to a majority of the other parts where the characters are always on the move. That, mixed with how relatable the characters and the high school situation are, made me find it that much more enjoyable. Not to mention, the Stands that appeared in Part 4 are some of my favorites, Killer Queen and Crazy Diamond especially.

When I first played DDLC and saw Sayori hanging, I thought: " _What if Crazy Diamond was here?_ " I thought of that as well when Yuri stabbed herself. About two weeks after finishing the game, I decided to write this story with Josuke in place of the main character, providing realistic reactions and trying to save the club with his Stand. I then thought of adding the whole Duwang gang in the story to point out anything strange happening to Josuke himself. Then I thought of trying to connect this to JJBA by making the story take place after the events of Part 4.

I tried to make this story parallel the events that took place in the game. I made a majority of my decisions for the events in the story based on this. That is why the events in the club seemed to be identical to those in the game, with Josuke joining the club, to seemingly forgetting an entire week, to rewinding everything to the beginning.

Now, the issues with the introduction…

I know that it was a bit aggressive of Rohan to use Heaven's Door on Sayori and Josuke, but I did this so it would tie in to Josuke taking the place of the main character. I personally don't enjoy stories where characters from separate franchises know each other before the story begins. While I am aware that that conflicts with my decision of making Yuri friends with Yukako, I will explain that later.

I honestly couldn't think of any other way to make Josuke join the literature club and have the same emotional connection to it. Again, I wanted this story to parallel that of the game but also give reactions from Josuke and the Duwang gang.

When thinking about it, why would Josuke of all people join a literature club full of a bunch of girls he hardly knew? I thought that Rohan's Stand, Heaven's Door, would be able to help out everyone with the whole situation in the club and that eventually translated into becoming the introduction.

A lot of Josuke's questionable decisions and actions were meant to be a result of Monika's Stand. I made this focus on Josuke to show his mental status slowly spiraling into madness. With all of the visions he saw, he became more paranoid and irritable. I wanted to show some sort of development in Josuke as his amplified daydreams and the strange behaviors of the club's members eventually making not want to trust anyone and actually write down his own plan. As I said earlier, the main character in DDLC showed little to no emotion during the game. By using Josuke, who already had an established and relatable personality, I was able to fix the issue with the main character by providing more natural and realistic feelings and reactions.

And now, Monika…

While I know it was dumb and sort of cliché as far as fanfics go, I made Monika relate to Kira for a reason. Not only did they both do terrible things, but Kira is one of my favorite villains in JJBA. I wanted to give Kira a lasting effect even after his death, like DIO had since he was referenced in some way in every part after Part 1. Yoshikage Kira hurt the town of Morioh, and I wanted to give him some sort of succession posthumously.

Monika might have hated Yoshikage, but she still acted based on his actions. Her affection for Josuke was derived from his involvement with her brother's death. She appeared to love the main character in the game for almost no reason, so by relating her to Kira (or at least making her aware of him) I had given her some reason behind her affection. For those of you who wanted Monika to eventually become friends with everyone and give her a happy ending, I do not like her and I took pleasure in writing the scene where she gets beaten down by Crazy Diamond.

In DDLC, Monika manipulated the files of the game and the characters. She hadn't necessarily changed their personality completely, but she just made their negative qualities more prominent. Sayori became more depressed which made her kill herself, Yuri became more unstable and open which made her say those weird things and stab herself, and Natsuki became more broken physically. During Act 2 of DDLC, Natsuki was the most bugged out and glitchy out of all of the characters, so I believe that Monika had actually directly affected her. Because of this, that is why I made Monika actually attack Natsuki on top of using her Stand in my story.

And finally…

Here's Monika's Stand…

* * *

[STAND NAME]: Lana Del Rey

[STAND MASTER]: Monika

Power: D

Speed: C

Range: A

Durability: E

Precision: C

Potential: B

The Stand's appearance is sheet music that wraps around its body, but its arms are patterned like piano keys. It also has an additional eighth note connecting its eyes, which look identical to Monika's own eyes. (Imagine Moody Blues with a bunch of music notes on it. I might draw it and set that as the image for the story)

Lana Del Rey's ability is Mental Amplification. It can amplify a certain quality about a person when its user plays the piano while reading something that the target wrote.

* * *

If you remember near the end of the first chapter, even though it was an intentionally left minor detail, Monika made Josuke sign a club member sheet. I wanted to make it a requirement to read something the person, which the user wants to use Lana Del Rey's ability on, had written because her Stand would have been extremely overpowered otherwise. If it didn't, Monika could have literally made everyone in the world forget about Josuke so she could have him all to herself.

I gave Monika's Stand this ability because I thought that it relates closely to what she was able to do to the characters in the game. Instead of making her manipulation of the game as well translate into an ability to warp reality, that Stand has already been done (The World Over Heaven from Eyes of Heaven). I also didn't want to give her such an overpowered ability in the first place, so I decided to turn the game manipulations into hallucinations (amplified daydreams) seen by the main character.

And her other ability…

* * *

Lana Del Rey: Young and Beautiful

Power: A

Speed: B

Range: B

Durability: E

Precision: D

Potential: E

This ability stretches Lana Del Rey's sheet music design over every nonliving surface within 100 meters. It then rewinds time to about two weeks prior when it is used, and people who are within the 100 meters are able to retain their memories from those two weeks. The user is then wiped from existence.

* * *

As I have said several times, my reason for Lana Del Rey: Young and Beautiful is to relate this story to that of the game. Rewinding time was the only way I could think of that would bring back Sayori and the others and also further relate her to Kira. Young and Beautiful is obviously quite similar to Bites the Dust. I did this because I wanted to make Monika realize that no matter what she did, she would always be haunted by her "half-brother" in some way.

And the name, Lana Del Rey…

I chose Lana Del Rey as the name of the Stand because a majority of her songs are love songs. In my story and in the game, Monika acts purely out of her love for Josuke/main character. I wanted to incorporate Monika's piano playing as a part of her Stand's function which also contributed to the Stand's design. And I chose Young and Beautiful because it's the song of hers that I'm most familiar with, and its lyrics sort of show what Monika felt towards Josuke.

I'm sure that many of you were expecting her Stand to be called Your Reality. I didn't do this because I still wanted to include the song itself in my story. It would be pretty strange to have named your own Stand after a song that you wrote, wouldn't it? Not only that, but with a name like Your Reality, I would expect the Stand to have some sort of reality warping ability. Again, that Stand had already been done, and I didn't want to write some complex actions or think of some design for a Stand with an ability so vague.

I made Yuri become friends with Yukako before the story began. While I have previously stated that I generally don't like stories that do that, I couldn't think of anything else in order for Yuri to have a relatively 'happy ending.' Natsuki, of course, got to meet Rohan (after he basically fixed her home abuse), Sayori now has a bunch of new friends (and there is a slightly implied relationship between her and Okuyasu) and Yuri was able to rebuild her friendship with Yukako. Without making her friends with the surviving female Stand user of Part 4, I had basically nothing positive for her by the end of the story. I didn't want to make her end up with Josuke because... well, I just didn't want him to end up with anyone romantically by the end of this story. Romances aren't really my thing. I might try my hand at one later.

Speaking of Yuri, it was just a coincidence that Josuke managed to save only her before Young and Beautiful. I didn't intentionally make it so only she was saved because she is my favorite of the girls. It was because Crazy Diamond would only be able to save her since she was wounded quickly and right in front of him, while Sayori slowly suffocated and Natsuki bled out for too long.

As seen in the manga/anime, Crazy Diamond is not always able to save everyone. It was not able to save Josuke's grandpa because he was critically injured for too long, but it managed to save Hayato because it began healing him immediately after he exploded. Using Crazy Diamond's amazing healing ability, with its few but significant flaws, I felt that it made the story interesting by giving the main character the ability to save the girls but not know when he would need to use it.

I also left quite a few references to other Parts and events in Part 4 throughout my story. My personal favorite references being Diavolo (phone call from shoe in Italy), Angelo (the screaming odd-looking stone), Pucci (dream of Made in Heaven and The World), and Santana (rock with ultraviolet lights at SPW Foundation).

Again, this was my first published fanfic and basically my first time writing any sort of story. I do not believe that I will write another mystery story anytime soon because I want to expand my range in many different genres. That is why the other stories I write will be different genres (edgy Xenoblade Chronicles 2, parody Cory in the House, horror DDLC) because I would like to experience and understand how to fittingly write different types of stories. I have had an original idea, that I have been working on for about 7 years now and is extremely ambitious, and I really don't want to mess that up. I wouldn't post it to this site because it is an original concept with original characters and setting. This was my attempt at writing a mystery story, and I feel that it went pretty well as a whole.

Shoutout to ManlyBadassHero! I watched his DDLC let's plays on YouTube so I could easily reference the game's script and events without having to re-download and go through each path by myself.

A big thank you to Hirohiko Araki for writing and illustrating the exciting and thrilling series, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.

Another thank you to Dan Salvato and Team Salvato for creating the game so deceptive and original, Doki Doki Literature Club.

And a MASSIVE thank you to everyone who actually took time out of their day to read my dumb fanfiction!

Tell me what you thought by leaving a review! :)

Thank you for reading Crazy Noisy Bizarre Club!

-electron1877

P.S.: Sometime down the road, I might add an additional chapter after this featuring the much requested Steely Dan Treatment TM.

[If any of you want to write a story about Josuke ending up with one of the girls after the events of this story, then go ahead! Just credit me and this story as the source. :) ]


	16. Restart (Extra)

**This story takes place immediately after the events of Chaper 7: "I'm Sorry."**

**Here we go…**

* * *

He wasted no time. "CRAZY DIAMOND!"

"DORARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARARA!"

Crazy Diamond was pummeling the club president relentlessly. Josuke stood close behind his Stand and watched her with rage. After a few moments of the punch barrage, Crazy Diamond brought its fist back for one final punch and launched it at Monika.

The amount of power from the final punch sent her flying, bursting down the other door, and into the hallway. Several other students there jumped in surprise at the bruised and bleeding girl struggling to stand up before the furious boy before her. By the boy's menacing aura, many of the student assumed that she had just insulted his hair.

As she managed to stand, using the wall to hold herself up, Monika took off down the hall. She grabbed the attendance sheets of the clubs being showcased in the classrooms nearby.

Josuke gritted his teeth.

"Stop her!" he yelled as he began to push his way through the crowd of people.

As more and more people began to notice the wretched, bleeding state of Monika, the more attendance sheets she took. Many people looked after her, confused and scared, before being pushed aside by the unbreakable Stand user.

After what seemed like a year, she had finally stumbled into the music room. Fortunately for her, it was empty. Monika limped over to the piano near the back of the room and began to lay out the attendance sheets of the clubs she had just passed.

_No one should remember… Everyone should just forget… Wait!_

Monika paused, a light smirk slowly creeping across her face.

_I'll just make him forget Sayori… Forget everyone… Yeah! I'll make everyone forget!_

She giggled madly as she took out a folded up piece of paper. When she finished unfolding it, she set it in the middle of all the other pieces of paper on the music stand. It was the Literature Club member sheet, with the signatures of Monika, Sayori, Natsuki, Yuri… and Josuke.

* * *

Meanwhile, Josuke was franticly looking around in the hallway. He had lost track of her in the sea of people, despite her large white bow being very noticeable.

"Where's Monika?! Where'd she go?!" he yelled as eventually stood outside of the music room.

"Josuke…?" a scared voice behind him asked.

He whirled on his heels to face the person behind him, his face still twisted with anger. Yuri jumped in surprise at the menacing figure before her. Finally realizing who it was standing before him, his face fell from anger into concern.

"Y-YURI?! I-I uh…" Josuke stuttered as his eyes went wide. "S-Sorry! I d-didn't mean to scare you…!"

"What's wrong?" the purple haired girl asked. "Did someone make fun of your hair?"

After his first year of high school, almost no one didn't know about Josuke's anger issue whenever anyone says something bad about his hair.

"N-No… It's just…" he paused and closed his eyes. "… Sayori's dead…"

Yuri blinked. Then she shoved Josuke with a surprising amount of force.

"Don't joke about that kind of stuff! It's not funny!" she said sternly.

"No, Yuri, I-"

"Save it. Let's just go set up the room for the presenta-"

"YURI! I found Sayori hanging in her room this morning!" he screamed at her in a hushed tone with the now crowded hallways while he held her shoulders.

A tear rolled down his face as he was once again reminded of what he felt after he failed to save her. Yuri went wide eyed as her mouth hung open. Josuke closed his eyes and looked away from her, his shoulders bobbing slightly.

"You're… You're not lying…" she whispered. "You're… serious…"

Yuri looked down at the ground, her face frozen in fear. She wasn't sure if he was lying or not. To hear that one of her friends had hung themselves felt too unrealistic and too soon. Especially Sayori. She was by far the happiest in the club, right? There's no way she would actually… take her own life… would she?

A loud bang was heard from the music room that made Josuke and Yuri look up at the door. Josuke's face darkened once again as he charged through the door. He swung open the door with so much force that the handle almost made a mark in the wall. Monika was by the piano. Her clothes were drenched and her hair was matted in some areas by her own blood. Her physical status at this point could be compared a patient in a Pakistani hospital, who was coming up for his eleven year anniversary of checking in with no progress made.

She had raised the lever inside the piano so its strings were visible. She plopped herself down on the chair and turned to face the door. Monika squeaked when she saw his furious expression, not to mention his Stand being summoned unconsciously behind him.

"Found you…" he growled, breathing heavily.

Yuri slowly walked into the room and gasped when she saw the state of Monika.

"Ah! M-Monika! What happened?!" she asked.

"Don't give her any sympathy, Yuri!" Josuke said. "She's the one who told Sayori to kill herself. It's her fault that she's dead."

Yuri went wide eyed and looked back and forth between them. Based on Monika's reaction to seeing Josuke, she assumed that he was the one that did that to her. She had decided to believe Josuke. When she did, her eye twitched and her face slowly twisted into anger as she looked at the club president.

"Is it true…? Did you do it…?" Yuri asked hesitantly, slipping her hand into her pocket.

Monika was silent for a moment before she began to giggle softly.

"Oh dear… It doesn't look like I'm getting out of this one easily…" she sighed.

If he weren't so blinded by rage, Josuke would have acted really surprised when the girl beside him pulled out a knife. Thankfully, it didn't appear like anyone in the hallway was taking notice of them.

Upon seeing Yuri take out the knife, Monika quickly summoned her Stand. The ghostly white figure, littered with music notes and piano keys, rose out of her and faced the piano. Seeing the figure, Josuke bolted towards the piano, Crazy Diamond following next to him.

"LANA DEL REY!" Monika screamed as she slammed her fists on the piano keys, looking at the pieces of paper before her.

"DORARARA!"

Josuke's Stand quickly smashed the piano with one hand and then used the other to hit Monika. The punches from Crazy Diamond totaled the piano and sent her to the ground. Yuri blinked at the scene before her: a piano being smashed and Monika falling down without anyone touching them.

A moment later, Josuke's expression lessened. He then began to look around, confused, while Yuri did the same. He gasped as he looked down to see Monika on the floor covered in blood.

"M-Monika!" he yelled as he made his way to be next to her. "Crazy Diamond!"

His Stand appeared once more and immediately began to heal her. Monika's face and body began to reshape and reform back into its original state. The blood from her uniform began to disappear about the same time Yuri franticly put away her knife, wondering why she took it out.

"Monika, are you feeling better?" Josuke asked quietly.

She slowly sat up and smiled sweetly.

"I am now…" she muttered and pointed at the rubble that was once the piano. "Do you think you could?"

He looked at where she was pointing and immediately began to repair the piano. Within seconds, the piano was back to normal, Yuri blinking in surprise at what she just saw.

Monika then snatched up all the papers she was reading and set them back on the piano. She then sat down and began to play.

"Forget everything," she stated. "Forget Sayori. Forget me being beat up."

Monika then set down the attendance sheets on the floor. All that was on the piano's music stand was the Literature Club member sheet.

"Forget the Literature Club. Just go home. Come back tomorrow."

Josuke and Yuri blinked and began to leave the music room without hesitation.

"Bye, Josuke~…" Monika said dreamily.

Just before he left the room, Crazy Diamond appeared and picked up a drumstick.

"DORA!"

It then threw it at Monika, who ducked and managed to dodge it at the last second. The Stand then went back into its user.

Monika slowly peaked out from behind the piano to see that she was alone in the music room. She sighed and began to fold up the paper on the piano again and put it back in her pocket.

"Crazy Diamond acted on its own just then…" she thought to herself.

A moment later, Monika began to lie limp on the piano, her eyes half open.

"Oh, how I love him…" she moaned in ecstasy, reminding herself of Josuke's tall, muscular build.

She then stood up and cleared her throat.

"Anyway…"

Monika picked up the attendance sheets and began to walk out the door.

"It's time to get more signatures."

**-To Be Continued**

* * *

**…** **Not really though.**

**I made this little story to fill in the gap between "I'm Sorry" and "Déjà vu" since I intentionally left a gap in the plot there. I decided to do this here since we now know the Stand and it keeps the mystery of what the Stand is going during the story.**

**But this was primarily for fun and to include the much requested Steely Dan Treatment TM.**

**Crazy Noisy Bizarre Club is now complete... sort of.**

**Edit: I am actually going back an revising parts of this story as well as this extra chapter. I'm also considering to work on other stories, including a Jotaro vs. Santana fight that I eluded to in the last chapter, as well as drawing a cover for this story. The cover will just be of Monika and her Stand, Lana Del Rey, so you will be able to better understand what I'm talking about when describing its appearance.**

**Thanks again for reading! :)**


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